~ MAKING MATH REAL ~
Making Math Real based strategies and methods
Making Math Real is a simultaneous multisensory structures method created by David Berg, E.T., an educational therapist, author, and international lecturer. He has worked nationwide with thousands of educators of all levels and students of all ages.
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Transfer the hands-on experience of concrete math to the abstract, symbolic form
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Integrate the key cognitive developments that directly support executive function and working memory with comprehensive knowledge of mathematics
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Activate and links three processing senses (visual, auditory, and touch/motor) at the same time
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Maximize successful processing and development for students of all ages and abilities
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Start from the most basic, elemental foundation and builds developmentally in an incremental and systematic progression from concrete to abstract
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Support successful processing and comprehension in which each current learning structure provides the essential connections and foundations for the next
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Are directly connected to Research in Neurobiologie and Cognitive Science
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Are meaningful and real: comprehension, not memorization
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Teach students to be independent mathematical thinkers
All Math content from pre-algebra to calculus is rooted in the connections of the multiplication and division facts. Unfortunately it is conservatively estimated that 50 % of students nationwide have not developed automaticity with the multiplication facts. The struggle educators and students have faced in attempting to teach and learn the multiplication facts date back to the beginnings of formal instruction of mathematics. The frustration, confusion and discouragement educators and students experience when students, regardless of everybody's effort, can not recall the time's tables, represents the greatest educational challenge in the entire K-12 math continuum.
The traditional methods have not been successful because they do not address the developmental basis of the problem: until students have developed sufficient sensory-cognitive tools supporting access to symbolic memory, they will not be able to image, store or retrieve all the multiplication or division facts with automaticity.
Symbol Imaging/ The 9 Lines
Mental imagery was already discussed by the early Greek philosophers. Socrates sketched a relation between perception and imagery by assuming that visual sensory experience creates images in the human's mind, which are representations of the real world. Later on, Aristoteles stated that "thought is impossible without an image". Later on, the idea was formed,that the study of imagery supports the study of cognition because thinking is often accompanied by images. Imagery has often been believed to play a very large, even pivotal, role in memory (Yates, 1966; Paivio, 1986) and motivation (McMahon, 1973).
Imagination is the ability to form images, perceptions, and concepts. In fact, images, perceptions and concepts are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses. Imagine the work of our mind!
Imagination helps to provide meaning and provides an understanding of knowledge; it also plays a key role in the learning process. Imagine any power we face. We combine what we touch, see and hear into a "picture" by imagination.
The brain is capable of restoring objects previously presented on three different reception levels (auditory, tactile and visual). This means we have the ability to perceive, hold, store and retrieve sequences of numbers or letters.
Students with weak sensory - cognitive skills are often challenged with their memory and therefore frequently present with learning challenges, such as remembering and applying new concepts.
The development of symbol imaging does not "come with age", it needs to be activated in a very specific way and practiced daily.
“The 9 Lines” of the Making Math Real method is a strategy to address the development of symbol imaging to support automaticity with the multiplication and division facts.
Eckstein Learning Solutions, in utilizing Making Math Real (MMR) methods, is in no way affiliated with, a member of, or employed by the Making Math Real Institute ( MMR), and does not represent or reflect MMR or David Berg in any way whatsoever. Neither the MMRI nor David Berg has trained, certified, licensed, monitored, endorsed, recommended, or sponsored Eckstein Learning Solutions. MMR is a clinical methodology, not a program or a curriculum, and neither the MMRI nor David Berg monitors, endorses, or accounts for the quality of the services provided by Eckstein Learning Solutions.