Connecting Math Concepts

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DI and Math

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Learning math can be difficult and boring.

Teachers disagree on how best to teach math. Some believe it best to let students “discover” math skills such as the number system or basic math operations. Under this theory, children are given word problems and then learn the computation skills necessary in order to solve them. This approach is considered a “constructionist” or “discovery” approach.

Arthur Academy takes a different approach using a program called Connecting Math Concepts (CMC). Children learn skills first. Then they are taught why the skill works. Finally, the children apply the skill to solve a word problem. Our three-step approach is skill, understanding, application--not the reverse.

CMC does this by teaching skills in small steps from the simplest to the most complicated. Lessons are a mixture of both new and old content which results in a higher level of success for each child.

CMC provides a very logical and reasonable approach to teaching math. Computation skills are taught sequentially and directly, without sacrificing understanding and application. As a result, children gain a firm foundation and can learn and perform math at all levels in future grades.