Making Mathematics Meaningful
Allie Chace & Jody Sitver, Special Educators
For students with autism and/or learning disabilities, confidence in school is sometimes hard to come by. This can be especially true when it comes to math. Complex Learners may lose their sense of confidence in math due to difficulty with multi-step procedures, frustration with heavy language-based problems, and lack of enthusiasm for instruction that is not connected to their interests. Many math-based curricula require students to memorize basic facts, formulas, and learned strategies and apply them to standard worksheets. These requirements don’t take into account every type of learner and can negatively impact student motivation and enjoyment of learning.
At Wolf, we are constantly working to best support Complex Learners and help them discover their love of learning, across all subjects. When students learn differently, you need to teach differently. For math, that means incorporating math skills through kinesthetic approaches.
What is Kinesthetic Learning?
Kinesthetic learning is a hands-on, multisensory learning style in which students experience learning in an engaging and interactive way. When you incorporate kinesthetic learning into mathematics, you’re taking a lesson that might lead Complex Learners to disengage and making it a hands-on interactive experience. With math lessons, this can look like manipulating materials, building, or using physical movement to demonstrate their understanding.
When students actively participate and take ownership of their learning, mathematical concepts become less abstract. Through hands-on tasks, students are encouraged to explore, problem-solve, think critically, and persevere to visualize concepts in meaningful ways.
Multisensory Activities
At Wolf, some examples of enhancing student engagement and learning through multisensory activities for math include:
- Number Hopscotch: Create a hopscotch board with addition and subtraction facts or skip-counting patterns.
- Build and Count: Use Legos or cubes to create towers that represent numbers, patterns, or fractions.
- Shape Movement: Create cut-outs of geometric shapes and place them throughout the classroom. Students listen to characteristics about each shape, identify the correct one, and move to the corresponding category.
- Human Coordinate Grid: Tape a large coordinate grid to the floor. Students draw ordered pairs and plot themselves on the plane to create linear or nonlinear graphs and geometric shapes.
- Geometric Construction: Use string, tape, or pool noodles to create angles, triangles, polygons, or transformations.
- Equation Relay Race: In teams, students work together to solve multi-step equations.
Bringing Kinesthetic Learning Home
Everyday activities also provide opportunities to practice essential math skills in ways that feel less stressful. Equally important, a student’s confidence in math can grow significantly outside of the classroom when they are surrounded by a supportive and encouraging environment. When parents speak positively about math and celebrate effort rather than perfection, students begin to feel more comfortable taking risks and making mistakes. Everyday experiences such as cooking, shopping, building, playing games, or managing money help students see that math is useful and achievable in real life.
Encourage your elementary or middle school student to engage in multisensory learning through activities such as:
- Cooking and Baking: Practice fractions, counting, multiplication, and sequencing skills.
- Grocery Shopping: Estimate totals, count change, compare prices, or calculate discounts.
- Telling Time: Use clocks, timers, and schedules to build functional skills while asking relevant questions throughout the day.
Incorporating kinesthetic learning into mathematics instruction allows students to experience math in ways that are engaging, meaningful, and accessible. For Complex Learners, multisensory activities can reduce frustration, strengthen understanding, and build confidence in their abilities. When educators and families work together to create positive learning experiences both inside and outside of the classroom, students are more likely to develop perseverance and independence for mathematics.
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