The Math void: A strategy for motivating student learning

TEACHING mathematics is a common challenge for most teachers and if there was a way to make learning mathematics easier for students, then perhaps, most, if not all teachers would readily learn such a way. In many cases, teaching math is dependent on how one motivates a student to learn the subject matter.

One strategy in teaching math that can make the subject matter easier to understand is recognizing what is usually termed as the “knowledge void” ( Edutopia, 2017). This knowledge void is what most teachers would recognize as a learning gap. For instance, when a student is taught simple algebra, some obscure operation like the changes in mathematical approaches when a figure becomes either negative or positive could skip the students mind.

One can just imagine how incorrectly a student would solve algebraic equations and problems if this minute yet important detail is overlooked. This particular detail is an example of a knowledge void and teachers can use this to their advantage to motivate the student to learn math by utilizing such a void and focusing on topics that highlight such a void.

This way, the student, instead of being repeatedly told that he/ she is right or wrong can instead be taught how to perform an operation correctly. The knowledge void is therefore taken not as a shortfall or a shortcoming but a starting point f or the learning process. As such, positive motivation is delivered to the student who becomes more interested in knowing how to do something correctly instead of fearing that what he/ she done could be wrong.

The knowledge void is just one of the many strategies that one can use to ensure that instead of fearing math, a student can actually learn to like it because of how its intricacies can be very rewarding i n addressing math r elated problems. (