The Non-Math Learning Outcomes of Math Education

Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic have long been the pillars of childhood education. While curriculum and teaching styles change over the years there is no arguing the fact that the mastery of these three subjects is essential to a child’s future academic success.
Math itself isn’t always a popular subject, especially as it becomes more complicated in middle and high school. But whether your child turns out to be a physicist, an economist, or an artist who is really good at balancing her checkbook, there are certain math skills that will remain relevant throughout their lives.

Outside of the specific arithmetic skills that making tipping after a meal easier, math imbues children with the skills necessary to think critically about other areas of their lives. The ability to learn math enhances your child’s abilities to learn other subjects. Here are three distinct benefits your child will get from a high-quality math education.

Showing Your Work
In math class getting the right answer is just as important as going through the process and showing the work that proves that you took all the right steps to get there. This is because a student can accidentally stumble upon a right answer, but without knowing how to achieve it over and over again they haven’t really learned any math at all. This is a great lesson for our children to learn, that the process of doing good work is just as important as the result in any situation.

Solving Complex Problems
The challenges in mathematics grow each year, and before your child knows it her or she had made their way from arithmetic to calculus. And while not every leg of that journey will be bump-free, each step – including the failures – instills in your child the confidence and skill set to buckle down and dig into complex problems. Problem-solving is a critical skill that our daily lives require of us in adulthood, and math education is a seed which helps that seed to grow.

Boosting Children’s Confidence
Math is black and white. Either your process and the answers you derive from that process are correct or they aren’t. And while that may feel like a harsh reality, it’s also a great way for students to know when they are succeeding. Unlike other subjects which leave room for different interpretations by teachers and students, when your child comes home with good grades in math you know that is because they’re learning the content. This confidence boost can be a huge motivator for your student.

Mathematics gets a bad rap. It’s a subject that many people struggle with and even more dislike, and it can feel like learning information you’ll never need again. Memorizing the Pythagorean Theorem may not help your child through the rest of the school day, but these other non-math learning outcomes will enhance the rest of their education. For more information about St. Barnabas’, or to take a tour of campus, contact us today.

Schedule your personal tour:
386-734-3005