The Trouble with Maths: A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties

by Steve Chinn

Overview

Now in its fourth edition, with updates to reflect developments in our understanding of learning difficulties in maths, this award-winning text provides vital, pragmatic insights into the often-confusing world of numeracy. By looking at learning difficulties in maths and dyscalculia from several perspectives, for example, the vocabulary and language of maths, cognitive style and the demands of individual procedures, this book provides a complete overview of the most frequently occurring problems associated with maths teaching and learning. Drawing on tried-and-tested methods based on research and Steve Chinn’s decades of classroom experience, it provides an authoritative yet accessible one-stop classroom resource.

Combining advice, guidance and practical activities, this user-friendly guide will help you to:

• develop flexible cognitive styles
• use alternative strategies to replace an over-reliance on rote-learning for pupils trying to access basic facts
• understand the implications of underlying skills, such as working memory, on learning
• implement effective pre-emptive measures before demotivation sets in
• recognise the manifestations of maths anxiety and tackle affective domain problems
• find approaches to solve word problems
• select appropriate materials and visual images to enhance understanding

With useful features such as checklists for the evaluation of books and an overview of resources, this book will equip you with essential skills to help you tackle your pupils’ maths difficulties and improve standards for all learners. This book will be useful for all teachers, classroom assistants, learning support assistants and parents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367862145
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/23/2020
Edition description:	4th ed.
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 11.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Steve Chinn is a Visiting Professor at the University of Derby. He is also the author of More Trouble with Maths: A Complete Guide to Identifying and Diagnosing Mathematical Difficulties, 3rd edition and editor of The Routledge International Handbook of Dyscalculia and Mathematical Learning Difficulties. He has lectured and trained teachers in over 30 countries.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations 1. Introduction: Mathematics Learning Difficulties and dyscalculia 2. Factors that affect learning 3. What the curriculum asks pupils to do and where difficulties may occur 4. Cognitive style in mathematics 5. Developmental perspectives. A pragmatic approach 6. The vocabulary and language of mathematics 7. Anxiety, attributions and communication 8. The inconsistencies of mathematics 9. Manipulatives, materials and visual images: multisensory learning 10. The nasties. Long division and fractions Appendix 1 Further reading Appendix 2 Checklists Appendix 3 Resources References and notes Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Spot and solve pupils' maths problems with More Trouble with Maths, the follow-up book to The Trouble with Maths.

What are they?

The books are written by the author, researcher and former teacher Steve Chinn. They are guides to identifying and diagnosing mathematical difficulties, including dyscalculia and mathematical anxiety, and offer practical advice for helping learners with numeracy difficulties.

Are they any good?

The issue I always have with academic research, no matter how credible its findings, is that the recommendations are very rarely accompanied by practical resources and ideas that will make an immediate difference in the classroom. I am delighted to say that these two books do exactly that.

In More Trouble with Maths, Chinn provides research evidence and tests to photocopy for identifying crucial mathematical difficulties that are prevalent in schools. Amid the coverage on conditions such as dyscalculia, there are also fascinating sections about learners'struggles with estimation and the crucial impact on short-term memory.

All these research findings are complemented nicely by The Trouble with Maths, where the focus is very much on practical solutions and strategies. My favourite part is the final section on fractions - a notoriously problematic topic for many pupils. The author pulls apart common approaches to teaching fractions, explaining clearly the misconceptions and difficulties to which they may lead. He then offers an alternative approach, including addressing multiplying fractions through paper folding.

I found these two books fascinating reading, but more importantly I know that they will have a long-term, positive effect on my teaching and my understanding of the difficulties many learners face with mathematics.

Craig Barton is an advanced skills teacher at Thornleigh Salesian College, Bolton. He is the creator of www.mrbartonmaths.com and TES subject adviser for secondary maths. He can be found on Twitter at @TESMaths.

Editorial Reviews

[This book] focuses on the individual student and shows how to equip them with both an understanding of the problem and appropriate strategies to deal with the difficulties experienced. It draws on practical experience and evidence-based methods as well as current research […] This will be seen as an essential resource.

Dr. Gavin Reid Psychologist and author of Dyslexia and Inclusion: Classroom Approaches for Assessing, Teaching and Learning.

Steve’s Chinn's book The Trouble with Maths has long been an essential part of any special needs teacher’s toolkit.

Patricia Babtie and Jane Emerson.

Steve’s books are very well respected and well known and are generally the first port of call for someone looking for information on dyscalculia and maths difficulties.

Judy Hornigold - International Lecturer in Dyscalculia.

From the Publisher