Arithmetics in Practice

Social perceptions often link being good at maths to being intelligent and it is a well-known fact that anxiety and failures in mathematic tests have serious negative repercussions on children’s self-confidence.
Arithmetics in practice comes out of this situation and focuses on the first few years of primary school, when children found their mathematical competency, offering maths teaching methods, inspired by far eastern teaching and adapted to the Italian context, applied to the representation of numbers and problems, with dozens of worksheets and exercises on:
• additions and subtractions using straws;
• problems with variations, typical of the Chinese teaching methodology.

Some past scientific findings have recorded an undeniable advantage for Far Eastern countries over western countries in maths tests: so why not learn from them?
Using examples and practical procedures, the authors illustrate teaching methods that all teachers can use and adapt to their classes, registering long-lasting learning even with pupils who are averse to the teaching of maths.