chryptof ·
I totally agree with "garbage platform that destroys kids attention span".
I noticed that our cousin (10 years old) struggled with Math so I suggested, that for once and for all, I was going to educate her on this topic as I am very patient and I have done it successfully with other kids.
My method is a "questioning" one: I ask and see what you know and based on that I ask more questions or we continue. So the "thinking" is done by the child and not by me. Yes, it is a long process (sometimes) but I believe this is the way: build on what you already know.
The main problem all (or most) of these kids have is that they can not imagine the "number line" as I call it: the integers/whole numbers with in between the decimals that can also be expressed as fractals, sometimes finite and sometimes infinite, and vice versa.
These kids believe that integers, decimals and fractals are totally different, not interrelated, numbers (because the teachers never told them this). So for example they don't understand that 10 can be expressed as 10/1 or that 0.1 equals to 1/10. No, for them they are all different numbers.
It is sad but the attention span of this specific kid was/is less then 2 minutes and so we never managed to get through this "fundamental" first lesson. It told it's mom that my method was confusing and that it is better to leave it. The real reason is that "thinking" is much harder then spoon-fed parroting!