Concepts

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The Mortensen Method is concept-based teaching.  Jerry Mortensen was Montessori trained, so of course his methodology is based on Montessori principles and teaching.

You'll see PDFs and videos that help you get the concept across to your students or children.

Using concept based teaching makes math fun and easy because once the child understands basic concepts all we can do is change the numbers.

The concept shown above for example is a simple concept: numbers are made up of other numbers. The child is building Addends past 10.

The lesson about the pyramid that contains Concrete Drawing and Symbol, isn't on the concepts page yet.  It is on one of the videos in Module II teacher training.  There are other Videos and PDFs to help explain the topics below.

There are also links to pages of for further explanation.

The first thing you'll see when you click enter, is a box for you your password. Use the module three password. 

This entire website can be boiled down to these five concepts, & variations around these five themes.

The problem with current mathematics teaching is you have no picture or image to go with the symbols. i put three squiggly lines on a chalk board or white board and if you were taught to read English you can decode them and read the word cow, and there is some kind of image in your mind's eye.  Yours might be brown, or brown and white or black and white...but you have an image.  

Imagine learning about cows but never seen a cow just the symbols.
C-O-W...things would get pretty confusing. Just like it did when you tried to learn algebra without pictures. 

Put the pictures back in!

Putting the pictures back in math teaching makes math assessable to all learning styles. It is the reason I have such fantastic success with all manner of students, kinesthetic girls who are often ballerinas, surfers or athletes don't do well with mathematics because it is geared toward male visual learners. This method levels the playing field. 

With math they gave you no pictures. This system puts the pictures back in the mathematics so you can SEE x² + 3x + 2.

When you can see it things are much easier to understand. One big red one, three blue ones and two green ones. Now any little boy are girl can get their hands on it and factor it. In fact at Crewton Ramone's House of Math i teach you to use algebra to teach basic concepts. Students love it.  They can get their hands on it and no matter what their learning style they can get it.

Now algebra is FUN, not scary. Your students will ask you for it...i show you how to integrate algebra into your lessons starting from day one.

Check out this one hour introduction.

Here are a few FREE PDFs you:

Some old articles about Mortensen Math.

Scope and Sequence of the Books.

Judy Townsend on "why" Mortensen Math

Progress Charts For Mortensen Math Books

Skip Count Underlays

Practice Polynomials For Addends and Multiplication

Five Basic Concepts.

Principles

Example IS the lesson.

Here is a brief sample from a lesson where you see the blocks in action looking over the shoulder of a young student who has since graduated high school. . Watch and get ideas to create a math rich environment in your homeschool or classroom.  Division and square root concepts are introduced using play and the blocks.

The Five Basic Concepts:

1. Mathematics is the study of numbers and all we can do with numbers is COUNT
2. The concept of SAME. The highest number we can count to (in base ten) is 9, the numbers tell you how many the places tell you what kind. Before we can count they must be SAME.
3. We form rectangles to facilitate counting.
4. O 
Hero ZERO.
5. 1 
No Fun Get Back To One. NFGBTO.

A detailed 12 page PDF is available for download on the next page.  It would have been shorter but i didn't have the time. 

These concepts are covered more fully on the next page:

The Five Basic Concepts

Three Period Lesson

Start in the Concrete

Directed Discovery

Use Math to Teach Math

Remove the "NO" from the lesson.

Stages To Mastery.

Place the student in a situation where they can not fail.

Economy of Symbol.

Control of Error

Early Exposure to Math Concepts Helps Ensure Success.


Much more on how to purvey basic mathematical concepts to your pupils on the password-protected page, enter below.

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And here is the most basic concept of all, keep it fun (as much as possible) and play math. Especially when they're little.

"Do not…keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play." ~Plato Greek philosopher 427-347 BCE

"Almost all creativity involves purposeful play." ~Abraham Maslow American psychologist 1908-1970

"Whoever wants to understand much must play much." ~Gottfried Benn German physician 1886-1956

"Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning." ~Fred Rogers American television personality 1928-2003

"People tend to forget that play is serious." ~David Hockney Contemporary British painter

“Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.” ~Albert Einstein

“Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach” ~Albert Einstein

More education quotes.