Having trouble with math? These free videos could help
Basic math concepts helpful 'to get by in society,' says UPEI prof
A UPEI professor is trying to take the mystery out of math through videos that help kids in Grades 3 to 9 — and their parents — understand some math basics.
"A lot of students have trouble with math — parents have trouble with math," said Miller, an associate professor of education. "The idea was to peel back the layers of math and just present it in an easy-to-understand manner."
The short, free videos, posted on tessmiller.ca, use animated characters and colourful, moving graphs to illustrate math principles such as division, decimals and fractions.
Miller has been working with an animator to bring the concepts to life, creating a new video every week or so.
"The stuff that we're teaching, you are going to use — you do need to have some understanding of fractions or just basic multiplication — you have to have that in order to get by in society," Miller said.
'Really hard to get out of'
Without a solid foundation in math concepts, students are unable to move forward, Miller said.
"We see that every day — students have little pockets of holes and as they get into in Grades 10, 11 and 12 they fall into those holes and it's really hard to get out of."
Parents and children can use the videos to help understand and complete homework, Miller said, and teachers could also use them in their classrooms.
Parents and teachers can find out more Wednesday at the university at an event called Math Made Easy from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in room 104 of the UPEI Health Sciences Building.
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With files from CBC Radio: Island Morning