Math
Tony SilvaFollow These Examples
Math Tutor DVD
http://mathtutordvd.com/
$26.99 for most DVDs.
Immersion theory has been used for years to teach foreign languages. It works because immersion is really the way we learn any language. Math Tutor DVD has captured the notion that math is a language best learned by immersion and example. If the Basic Word Problem Tutor and the Algebra Tutor DVDs we reviewed are any indication, they’re right.
What You See is What You “Get”
The immersion method for Math Tutor DVD is pretty straight forward. The tutor stands in front of a whiteboard and explains how to work problems. This may sound just as tedious as watching bread rise, but for someone learning a new concept or relearning an old one, it is quite effective. Viewing the algebra DVD helped clarify several concepts this author never quite got in high school or college.
In practice, math is a matter of breaking the problem into solvable parts. Math Tutor DVD takes this to a level your math teacher may have never imagined. After several well designed explanations of a concept, the tutor then does several problems. If you don’t get it, go back and view the video again until you do. After all, what you see is what you “get”.
But Mr. Demme Said….
We have used Steve Demme’s Math-U-See curriculum for years. It uses a combination of manipulatives and demonstration with extensive drill. One of our kids commented that the Math Tutor DVD videos were like “Mr. Demme, only not funny.” That was probably a compliment to Demme or Math Tutor – maybe both – but it helped answer a nagging question about using one math program to supplement another. What is the benefit of a supplemental program that essentially “explains” what your existing program already said?
Math-U-See is its own form of immersion, and it is a great program. However, there are always areas where a child simply doesn’t “get it”. What happens when a different teacher explains the same concepts and takes you through several sample problems? Maybe seeing a similar problem worked in a different way or explained by a different teacher will provide that “ah ha” moment for your child. Whatever the reason, it seems to work in the real world.
Math Tutor DVD programs are inexpensive and are a perfect supplement to just about any existing math curriculum. There is a huge selection of tutorials available on the MathTutorDVD.com Web site along with sample videos you can view to see how their method works. There are samples for both the Basic Math Word Problem Tutor and the Algebra 1 Math Tutor videos we used for this review.
Quibbles & Bits
Children come in different learning packages. Your kinesthetic learner may not like sitting still and watching a teacher explain the finer points of how multiplication is “repetitive addition”. He’d rather go hunting for pennies, exchanging them five at a time for nickels… until he has five nickels he can exchange for a quarter. His auditory brother may get more out of singing along with the skip counting muskrat (some readers remember him, I'm sure). If that is the case, you may not find much comfort in the supplemental programs out there. However, regardless of the “learning modality” of any given child, seeing the same concept presented several times with well-conceived examples can’t hurt. Before you count out mathematical baptism by immersion, visit http://www.MathTutorDVD.com and try a few sample lessons on your own students.
