Parents urged to help children to appreciate mathematics

• Published date: 22 April 2024
• Publication title: Jamaica Star, The (Kingston, Jamaica)

According to Williams, who participated in the recent Jamaica Information Service 'Think Tank', "Maths is in everything that we do." Using the kitchen as an example, Williams said a child could develop an understanding of measurement, if the right measuring tools are used, as they would be able see the actual measuring of the items being used in cooking

"I know that in Jamaica, we do 'a pinch of salt', and things like that, but we can shift from that and actually use the right tools to do the measurement, just for the child's sake. It doesn't have to be every day; it can be one day you decide, 'I am going to do this particular thing with my child'," said Williams. For younger children, Williams said that when the laundry is being done, they could develop their counting skills by counting the number of clothes pins that are being used.

"You can ask how many more clothes pins will I need to have seven? They should be able to see that if you add one more pin, take one pin from the bucket, you will have seven pins,"...