How My Sister Overcame Her Fear of Mathematics: A Story of Informal Learning

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES1
Learning is an integral part of all human life. This process of learning might follow 2 kinds
of path. They are either formal or informal. The learning experience that I will be talking about is
how my younger sister began with being extremely scared of mathematics, but came to love it as
she was taken through different processes of learning. I have mainly been experienced with
informal learning, as I was home-schooled as a child. My sister was the one who joined
kindergarten to begin her educational life. She dreaded mathematics when she reached junior
high and was almost on the verge of failing in the 3rd standard. That is when her teacher, Mrs.
Gomez began giving her private lessons at the beginning of 4th grade. She began using different
techniques in order for my sister to begin getting comfortable with the concept and workings of
maths. She followed three theories in employing the methods. These were,
1. Behaviourist: This theory was used in order to bring changes to the behaviour in learning.
Mrs. Gomez used methods such as repetitive practice of similar problems in the
beginning. She would give my sister very similar problems and would ask her to solve
them every day. This was done so that she develops a knack for practicing maths every
day. This somewhat involved rote memorization of processes as well. But the tutor
believed that this would help her get involved in the process more. Whenever my sister
would solve her whole set of problems correctly, the tutor would commend her with
positive comments and reinforcements, such as, ‘Good job!’ or ‘Well done!’. This
encouraged my sister to work harder.
2. Cognitive: This theory states that children learn from internalizing a concept learned and
is more dependent on the child’s internal faculties rather than external factors. This was
implemented by the tutor through providing real world examples and problem solving.
This meant that Mrs. Gomez would pick out problems such as provide grocery shop bills

EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES2
and would ask her to tally and see which one shows more savings over discounted prices.
My sister loved this particular task thoroughly. The tutor would also give simple real life
situations and ask her questions which she had to use using her own common sense. This
increased her power of acquisition of problems she could on a daily basis, like at shops
and other such places.
3. Constructivist: This process of learning involves construction of new ideas or concepts
based on pre-existing knowledge. Therefore, this process involved some amount of
creativity. This is where Mrs. Gomez brought in the concept of brainstorming. She would
bring books which were of a considerable higher standard yet still understandable. Then
she and my sister would sit together and brainstorm till they came up with solutions. This
enabled my sister to create solutions instead of just remembering what she had learned
earlier and jotting it down. This helped her build up her thinking and problem solving
skills.
The aforementioned processes were followed sequentially. This is because these processes
required my sister to learn and get accustomed to mathematics slowly yet steadily.