Centre For Teaching and Learning of Mathematics
New strategies for Helping Dyscalculic and Non Dyscalculic children Master Numeracy
As we expect every child to read fluently, with comprehension, by the end of third grade, we should expect and work diligently with the goal that every child has mastery of numeracy, with understanding, by the end of fourth grade. With proper mastery of numeracy, they can learn mathematics easily, effectively, and efficiently. They will, then, appreciate the reach, power, and beauty of mathematics. Early mathematics is about number concept, numbersense and building the brain for numeracy and beyond. It is all about how we make it easier for students to understand and communicate it. Through a systematic way of learning, practicing, and applying knowledge about the number concept, numbersense, numeracy, and mathematical way of thinking children have access to higher mathematics.
Centre for Teaching-Learning of Mathematics
CTLM was founded by Professor Mahesh Sharma in Framingham, Massachusetts, with offices in England and India. We develop and promote efficient, elegant and effective ways of teaching and learning mathematics, from early childhood to high school and teacher training.
The CPVA/S method differs from the conventional CPA approach in one step: visualization, the bridge between a picture on paper and a symbol in the mind. Follow one number through all four stages.
Every lesson is planned so that students meet a concept at six levels of knowing.
Ninety percent of students who have difficulty in arithmetic have not conceptualized number concepts. So that is where we begin.
Four short activities from the way we teach number concept, additive reasoning and multiplication.
Subitizing is recognising a number at a glance, generally up to 6. Counting one by one is necessary, but it is only decoding. The patterns on our visual cluster cards help children see numbers as groups instead of isolated names.
The card shows for less than a second.
In a row: 0
Knowing 5 means seeing that it is 4 + 1, 3 + 2, 2 + 3 and 1 + 4, by perception and not by counting. Professor Sharma calls these sight facts, in parallel with sight words in reading. For numbers above 6, visual clustering breaks the number into familiar groups.
Pick a number, then tap a row of rodsVisual cluster card and Cuisenaire rods showing the same fact.
Most children learn to add by holding the bigger number and counting forward. That does not build fluency or mental maths. A strategy makes the procedure transparent, and it is not a trick: the child understands every step.
The sign × in 3 × 4 can be read in four ways. Meeting all four models makes the concept comprehensive and prepares children to apply it.
Founder, CTLM
Our methods come from his research, from our own teaching, and from observing teachers in classrooms all over the world. He has developed skill mastery instruments that help students reach automaticity with understanding.
Dyscalculia specialist and author
PhD, PGCE, DipEdMan, AMBDA, FRSA
Steve has worked with students with special educational needs for four decades and was head of three specialist schools, one of which delivered the UK’s first postgraduate course on dyscalculia. His book The Trouble with Maths won a Times Educational Supplement award, and he has lectured in over 30 countries. He was the first Chair of the British Dyslexia Association’s dyscalculia committee and received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
Chief Operating Officer, Mathematics for All, CTLM
MSc in Mathematics and MA in Education. Adjunct faculty at the School of Education Studies, Ambedkar University Delhi, where he teaches Algebra and Geometry. He works with teachers, children and parents to make mathematics better understood.
Founder and President, Dyscalculia.org
M.Ed., M.S. (Special Education)
An educational specialist, author and advocate with more than three decades in special education, educational diagnostics, mathematics intervention and teacher training. Living with dyscalculia herself, she works to identify the cognitive factors behind maths difficulties, such as working memory, visual-spatial processing and mathematical language, rather than blaming intelligence or effort. She credits Professor Sharma with shaping her understanding of dyscalculia during her postgraduate studies. Her books include The Dyscalculia Syndrome (1998) and Math Limits (2014).
Visit dyscalculia.orgWe use these techniques in our courses, workshops, webinars, classroom demonstrations and private tutoring, and have helped thousands of educators, from pre-service to veteran teachers, improve their instruction.
