Mathematics has always been one of my favourite subjects ever since Secondary school. One of the main reasons is due to the influence I had from my Mathematics teacher in Secondary One. Through this experience, I feel that the way we influence and teach children can affect their interest in the subject. When teaching Mathematics to my children, I try to integrate it with other subjects, such as Art. In addition, I may use concrete materials to teach Mathematics. For example, when teaching the children the basic concepts of Length, I used different lengths of branches to differentiate between "long" and "short".
Initially, I always portrayed Mathematics as a subject which involves mainly problem solving. However, after reading Chapter two of the textbook, and relating some of the readings to my teaching experience, I realised and agree that Mathematics can be similar to Science. For example, like Science, problem solving allows one to figure out a solution, through exploration. By understanding how a problem is solved, instead of just focusing on getting the correct answer, it can allow children's learning to be more meaningful.
