my son aged 8 years is not good in maths?

Question

he knows tables and can do addition, substraction, multiplication and division of numbers, but when it comes to word problems, he is not able to conceptualize whther to add or subtract, multiply or divide. please advise what to do?

Answer 1

Not everyone can do word problems. You can either do them or you can't. Some people's brains just don't work that way. When I was growing up, I had trouble with some basic arithmetic, but I could easily do the word problems. Now I am an engineer. If your son is only 8, then don't worry about it. He just needs to practice and eventually he will understand.

Answer 2

Buy him a hi-liter and let him use that to pick out the important information in the word problem. There are key words that each word problem gives you to help you decide which operation to choose (add, subtract, multiply, divide, etc.). If he can identify those key words, he'll be able to solve them much more easily. For instance, when you see "in all," you'll most likely have to add. Ask his teacher if she has a list of these words that you can have and use at home when working with your son.

Also, have him draw a picture of what's going on in the word problem. This is often the easiest way for students to get a handle on what's being asked of them.

Have your son write his own word problems. This will help him to understand the structure of word problems so that it will be easier for him to break them apart when he's asked to solve one. One day you might ask him to write a word problem in which he'd have to add to solve. One day subtraction. One day he might write a word problem that requires him to do multiple steps.

The biggest thing you can do for him is to help him learn those key words though. I even tell my students that the test makers are deliberately trying to trick them into getting the problem wrong. It's the students' job to stop that from happening.

Also, if there are multiple choice questions, have him "terminate" the silly answer first. There's always one. If he can narrow the choices down to 2, he's got a 50/50 chance of getting it right as opposed to a 25% chance.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

my brother is also having the same prob...and my solution worked.the reason why he makes mistakes is because he is not understanding the questions properly.u can try asking him 2 convert word problems into mathematical form for eg -
john buyed 5 apples and gave 2 to wilma.how many apples is left with john.
therefore it can b converted into as
5-2=3
make him understand why it should b subtraction because as he gives .the quantity decreases.also make him understand where to use addition .division and multiplication.
im sure your son will overcome this problem.

give him practice
dont discourage him when he goes wrong but encourage him to find the correct answer
pls reply soon if u like my idea
wishing u and your son all the best in future.
pls do take care
bye
srinivas

Answer 4

Get a tutor. I had one that prepared me for taking pre-graduate work. He was really good and we diagrammed math problems like English sentences. He taught me that certain words in math were equivalent to certain English works. Like is = Equals. How many times = multiply. Ask his teachers if they are aware of a workbook which breaks down and analyzes math problems. Unfortunately, I've forgotten everything I learned because I don't use math on a daily basis . My tutor was an engineering student from the University of Delaware. Your son may have to practice a lot of repetition, memorize formulas. I've yet to see where word problems are used in life. They are so convoluted and confusing. Good Luck!!!

Answer 5

Sandy, [e-mail] , E - 89, Sector - 21, NOIDA - 201301, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, Mobile - 9810356262, Phone - 01201 - 3258138, is available as a Teacher to Kids upto Class 8th in Maths and enables them to be far beyond the school work too, to make them beat a Calculator or a Computer. The most important JOB to Do is to START In The RIGHT LINE. Today, the world is very much Scientific and Mathematical. We should try and Excell in them Both. All the best for you or your kids to Excell.

Answer 6

Good for you for recognizing a problem area. Word problems are difficult for many children (and many adults!) But you can get help. It would be a good investment to sign him up for some lessons at Sylvan, or one of the other tutorial schools, who can help him over this hurdle. It's good to get help when a youngster first has problems, otherwise they quickly decide that they can't do it, and give up even trying.
As we both know, understanding word problems are critical, not only in math but in science and other fields as well.
If he's got the basic arithmetic down, as you say, this should be an easy problem for Sylvan to help him with.

Answer 7

He probably has other strengths, and this is one of his weaker areas. He is still quite young though and perhaps with some creative teaching methods, you can help him grasp the concepts. If he can do the basic math, then he needs to develop some word associations to help him recognise what action to carry out in a given situation.
A specialised tutor may help. Still, at the age of 8, I believe he is still quite young, and since he can do the basic calculations, perhaps you may be fretting too soon. Putting pressure on him may not help either, so try making it a fun project for the two of you, and if he's relaxed and enjoying it, it may help.

Answer 8

For one I would find out about his reading skills. Alot of children have difficulty in word problems because of the reading skills. Talk to his teacher because she/he might be able to explain his reading level. Sometimes comprehension in the language arts will stop all other learning.

I would also get him a tutor. Ask the school for help. They can suggest programs that will help the child.

I would also teach your child key words when I sit with him such as is means equals... so on and so forth. Have him draw out the problem. If it talks about cats have him draw cats... pictures sometimes help kids. Or use something physical to represent numbers like paperclips or blocks. Talk to his teacher and get some ideas.

Answer 9

I'm not very good at word problems either so what I used to do is write down the important facts like the numbers in a list and then write down what kind of operation to do so then it's more like a regular problem where it's already laid out for you.

Answer 10

Easiest way to handle a word problem is to try to break it down and simplify it into easily understood concepts and bring physical items into play, anything you have a lot of on hand will do, pennies, dried beans, etc. This helps visualize the problem. Please take comfort in knowing you are far from alone in this area.