Looking Ahead: Insights from Middle School for Parents of Young Children (Part 1)
Mar 26, 2025I recently attended and presented at a conference for middle school math educators. While middle school feels far away for my 5 and 3-year olds, it struck me how many of the key themes that arose had direct relevance to how we as parents can help our young children build a strong foundation for math learning. I’ll share these here and in the next blog post.
1. Math is about building habits of thinking and reasoning - not just getting answers.
Middle school kids have access to devices that can get them any procedural answer instantaneously. The really important stuff is learning how to think and reason, not just how to perform procedures. Real learning happens in the process of thinking. While our young children are likely not using calculators, Google, or Chat GPT to find answers, we can still fall into the trap of only praising or valuing their answers. Start now by showing that you value their ideas and thinking. Encourage your child to talk through their ideas: “How did you figure that out?” or “Tell me how your brain thought about that.” This builds the habit of reasoning, which is key to deeper understanding.
2. Math is about identifying patterns.
Noticing and predicting patterns underlies all of math learning. In my own conference session, I showed teachers how I had introduced my past 7th graders to operations with negative numbers by giving them a set of equations and having them look for patterns. Over time, deeper understanding of these patterns turns into generalizations, or the math "rules" that many of us were just taught without attention to the underlying patterns.
Simply looking for, pointing out, and discussing all kinds of patterns in everyday life is a powerful way to begin establishing an understanding of patterns. Here are some examples of where to look for them:
- Songs like "5 Little Ducks," where each new verse goes down the counting sequence
- Alternating colors on clothing
- The book Pattern Breakers by Dan Finkel is a great read that's directly connected to this topic
3. Learning math is a fundamentally human endeavor.
I attended a session entitled "Rehumanizing Mathematics" in which the presenter asked us what activities in our lives make us feel human, and then we thought about why. One broad theme was engaging in activities that made us feel connected to others- would you describe your time in math class as "feeling connected to others?" Or even connected to the content you were learning? Many of the math educators in the room described their own experience as being expected to work and perform on their own and learning procedures without understanding—some even feeling fear and shame in class.
Math isn’t just about numbers; it’s about making sense of the world. As the parent of a young child, you are in a powerful position to help them see how math is connected to everyday life and how it can be a source of connection with you and others.
One great example—getting the table ready to share a meal. Ask questions like "How many forks do we need so everyone has one?" or "There's already one plate on the table, how many more do we need?"
4. Math can and should be a social activity.
Very much related to idea #3—based on our own experiences, it is common to think of math as an independent activity. But some of the best learning happens through discussion and collaboration. There is an effort in many middle schools across the country to remake math classrooms as collaborative environments where student thinking is shared and discussed as a main way for deep learning to occur - trying to make this transition was a big part of my own teaching journey.
For now, think about how anything math-related you do with your young child can be based on social interaction—play math games together, count out loud at story time, or have your child “teach” a younger sibling or stuffed animal how to count or sort objects.
Stay Tuned for Part 2!
In Part 2, I'll share four more insights from the conference, including why exploring different problem-solving approaches matters, how asking good questions supports math learning, and some thoughts on math anxiety.
