Keeping up with current methods and different approaches to teaching helps to keep both teachers and students motivated, enthusiastic and engaged in their lessons. There is a decline in Australia in students enrolling in higher-level maths subjects in secondary schools, and this decline may have something to do with the fact that so many primary school students fall behind in maths today. Teachers who lack confidence in their ability to teach maths, who feel under-prepared or are using ineffective teaching methods are contributing to a large percentage of Australian students who are not reaching baseline proficiency levels in maths.
Many students struggle today with basic math concepts such as ordering decimals, understanding fractions and recognising equivalent values. Traditional teaching methods, such as lecturing students, who will sit and listen and take notes, then memorise the facts they've been taught, can be effective for foundational knowledge but equally may not engage all the students in a class, leads to passive learning and doesn't always help to develop higher-order thinking skills. Plus, we all know how boring lessons like that can be!
Put the mojo back into maths lessons by getting the children to complete hands-on tasks by using engaging approaches! Learning by doing practical tasks, like counting with place value disks, for example, can be far more engaging and motivating for children, and working out real-world connections in a group setting develops social skills and problem-solving skills as well as improving maths. Read More
How Do Place Value Titles Work?
These disks or counters are a hands-on tool used in maths education to help students understand the value of digits in numbers and their place value. They are particularly useful for primary and secondary school students who wish to develop a strong foundation in mathematics. At Learning Through Doing, we show our teachers how to use place value counters in the lesson and how to make them the most effective tool for understanding the value of each digit in a number.
Our counters are brightly coloured and tactile objects that can be touched, held and moved around by students to build and represent numbers, and this helps to make those abstract concepts in maths more concrete and easier to understand when children can physically manipulate those numbers. Each place value tile represents a specific value, including whole numbers and decimals, and is extremely useful in demonstrating addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Students can physically combine or remove discs, group them and perform operations with them, and physically see the value numbers changing.
These discs can be used in conjunction with place value charts, another visual aid in maths education, to help students understand the value of each digit in a number based on its position within the numbers. Providing a clear, visual representation of how digits are organised and their values helps students understand the concepts of ones, tens, hundreds, etc, as well as the value of decimals.
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What Are The Benefits of Using Place Value Disks?
Building a strong foundation in place value is essential if you want your students to understand other mathematical concepts. Any type of hands-on or visual learning technique works because it engages multiple senses and learning styles, making information more accessible and understandable, and therefore more memorable.
Using place value counters offers a range of benefits:
- Supports multi-sensory learning – Engages visual and tactile senses, helping students absorb and retain information more effectively.
- Enhances memory and recall – Creates lasting impressions, which lead to stronger memory retention of mathematical concepts.
- Improves accessibility – Makes learning more engaging and easier to grasp for diverse learning styles, including visual and kinaesthetic learners.
- Boosts student engagement – The physical activity and colour-coded nature of disks capture attention and maintain focus.
- Applies learning in real-world contexts – Helps students understand concepts like money and change, which are harder to grasp in a mostly cashless society.
- Strengthens foundational maths skills – Reinforces key principles that are critical for more advanced mathematical understanding.
- Promotes active learning – Encourages students to participate, manipulate, and problem-solve in a hands-on environment.
These engaging approaches help students build a solid base of knowledge that will support their mathematical understanding and everyday life skills into the future.
Maths Training for Maths Teachers
Our professional maths courses are designed to show and support educators in order to build strong maths foundations through hands-on, engaging approaches and different ways of teaching. We use high-quality resources, lots of practical teaching tools and targeted CPD, because continuing your professional development is not just about ticking boxes, it needs to be beneficial to you and your career.
Our user-friendly platforms and hands-on tools, like place value counters, will challenge traditional teaching methods, saving teachers time in prep and planning, and giving them the confidence to teach by following our small videos that accompany every lesson. Try our free content and you will be able to gain confidence and motivation in your teaching skills, and improve student results! Read Less
