Tutor and Teacher Educational Resources

One of the things that we love to do at School is Easy Tutoring is make seemingly abstract concepts accessible to children. It’s a shame many students complain their schooling is useless in the ‘real’ world, because ‘book learning’ can often be very practical. Sometimes it just takes the right approach to show children how their academics can be used to inform many real-life decisions. We’ve done this approach in the past by showing how you can teach math when bowling or how baseball can be a great way to learn statistics. Now we’re applying this method to something new — we’re teaching kids math with cars.

Looking at the speedometer is a great tool for teaching kids math with cars

The speedometer may be the most obvious way you can start teaching kids math with cars. It would probably be best to first explain what a speedometer is to your students and how it functions. The next step would be to try doing some basic arithmetic drills with cars regarding speed. This can be the fun part — you can make it a game!

For example, ask your children to look at the speed limits for each area you are in. When you want to go on the highway, tell your students to look at the speedometer, then look at the signs indicating maximum speed. Ask your kids to tell you how much faster you have to go to get up to speed on the highway. This can be a great exercise in real-life applications of arithmetic.

Then you can lay it out as a math equation:

How much faster we need to go = speed limit – current speed

So in other words, let’s use this example:

30 = 80 (typical highway speed limit) – 50 (typical city speed limit)

You can also make a game out of slowing down. For example, if you are coming off a city road and entering a school zone, ask your students how much slower you need to be to drive safely.

Look out the window of your car, and you can even teach children simplified physics

If you are so inclined, you can even teach one of the most basic parts of the theory of relativity. While going in depth into this topic may be asking a little too much from children, you can give them a little taste about what relativity is all about.

At its simplest, relativity means that everything is moving at a speed relative to something else, and observations can differ depending on how fast you are going. This For Dummies article gives the example of two spaceships. This may be a little too complicated for children, but you can teach a similar — albeit simpler — lesson by looking at cars on a road.

For example, let’s pretend you’re driving down a road and you are going 50 kilometers per hour. Let’s say there is a vehicle in a lane beside you going 50 kilometers per hour as well. You can point out that relative to your car, the other vehicle is travelling at zero kilometers per hour. Show your students that it looks like the vehicle is standing still right beside your car when they’ve matched speeds.

In simple math, it’s

The speed of the other driver – your speed = relative speed

So 50 – 50 = 0

As another example, if you are travelling 50 kilometres per hour and another car is travelling at 60, it will look as if the other car is racing ahead at 10 kilometres per hour.

In this case, it’s 60 – 50 = 10

Teaching kids math with cars can make the subject ‘real’!

The most important thing about these focused math lessons is making ‘book learning’ relevant to ‘real life.’ See if you can find other parallels between driving and math (there are lots). For example, you can teach kids math with cars by examining tire pressure, gas prices and engine sizes. Have fun with it!

See related posts on our education blog:

• Focused math lesson — Teach students statistics using baseball
• Backgammon math lessons to teach kids
• Focused math lesson — using bowling to teach math to students
• Focused lesson — teach kids math and meteorology with barometers

The annual salmon run has either started or will be starting in many parts of British Columbia. These fish will be travelling to reach their breeding grounds. This is a great opportunity to teach students about the B.C. salmon run, and the issues surrounding salmon. Learning about this event can educate kids on the province’s ecosystem, global warming and the environment. It can also introduce kids to the idea of political debate. It can show how governments can step in to interfere in the lives of their subjects, in a way that is tangible to kids.

First things first: where can you watch the B.C. salmon run?

You can watch the salmon run up close and personal at any spawning stream in the province. During the run, salmon travel up B.C.’s rivers to find the original place where they were birthed. This is a process called natal homing. Once salmon arrive at their destination, they dig a small nest called a redd and lay their eggs.

Spawning streams and the rivers leading up to them are often the best place to get a look at the salmon run. But if you don’t have access to a spawning stream, there are also plenty of hatcheries that you can visit. Take a look at this government list to figure out the stream, river or hatchery closest to you.

Fish ladders are also a great place to observe salmon. They are passageways that mimic rivers. These structures are built in areas where dams or other facilities have prevented salmon from accessing their spawning grounds. Think of it like a highway, but for salmon! Hell’s Gate in Boston Bar , B.C. (near Hope) has one you can check out while also taking a ride on the airtram.

But what if you want to watch salmon runs in other parts of Canada?

The same principles apply. Both Pacific and Atlantic salmon go back to their birthplace to spawn. Spawning streams, hatcheries and fish ladders are the best places to view the run, regardless of where you are in Canada. Salmon Atlas has a fantastic collection of maps that show where you can watch the fish.

Teaching the importance of salmon in our history, culture and food system

It’s important for kids to know that salmon isn’t always as available as we want it to be for a food source. And usually, our human behaviour is at the centre of this problem. This has caused multiple political discussions, especially when salmon populations decline significantly. Historically, government regulations have had to control our fishing habits. In fact, that’s what salmon hatcheries are for! When you visit a hatchery, make sure your kids know it’s not just a zoo or museum, but that it has a real purpose – to keep us fed!

But salmon is not likely to fall out of our diets soon. Salmon essential to First Nations culture, and our government sees that as an important practice to protect, despite the disputes it has caused. Ask your kids how they feel about conflict over fishing. Do they know why First Nation people are allowed some rights that other Canadians aren’t? What’s their take on this? Try not to induce opinions, but see what your kids or students might say. It can help you learn about their thought processes.

Aside from that, salmon farms are another way of producing fish, which may be hard to imagine after watching such strong fish freely swim upriver. Some kids may have heard about this term, “wild salmon.” What does that mean? Why do restaurants and grocery stores need to point out that a salmon is “wild” in order for you to want to buy it? This is another controversial topic that kids can be introduced to. While a health debate may be premature, an understanding of our food supply system can help draw a fuller picture for kids who may not yet know how a salmon dinner landed on their plate one evening!

Teach students about the B.C. salmon run’s relationship to the ecosystem

Learning about the salmon run is crucial to learning about how British Columbia’s environment works. For example, many predators depend on the salmon run as a source of food. Bears can often be seen waiting at a river to snatch the fish. If children are interested in learning about this, the BBC has a great video clip they can check out. Eagles spend a lot of time perched in the trees, looking for carcasses to eat because the fish die after they spawn, while seagulls or other birds hover together to eat eyeballs and other parts. The dead salmon contribute to the nitrogen cycle of the surrounding area. Their bodies fertilize the trees help allow rich foliage to grow.

How the salmon run relates to global warming

You can even use the salmon run as an educational tool to show the effects of global warming. The Vancouver Observer reports higher temperature caused by climate change can hurt the salmon run. Water temperature becomes warmer and salmon get more stressed under these conditions. It’s easier for them to die on the journey, and CBC reports we are seeing that happen right now. Record droughts we’ve encountered this year are also lowering the river and stream levels, making it harder for the fish to swim.

Be proactive!

The value of teaching kids about the B.C. salmon run is that it has so many lessons attached to it. Students get to learn about the food chain, the nitrogen cycle and global warming at the same time! If kids show interest, take them to see a fish ladder, spawning stream or hatchery!

We’re going to build on an idea we discussed about math and baseball a few weeks ago on this blog, which was to use passion as fuel for learning. As we’ve mentioned before, lessons can be more effective when they are paired with a fun activity. So today, we’ll explore the idea of using bowling to teach math to students.

It’s easy to think of bowling as a strictly recreational activity. But bowling teaches students arithmetic, geometry and many other mathematical principles.

How to teach students arithmetic using bowling

Bowling relies on math to keep track of the scores during a game. All you need to do is look at a scorecard and this will become apparent. Probably the most basic method of using bowling to teach students math is showing students the score system. Filling out a scorecard requires sharp arithmetic, particularly addition and subtraction. There are a number of intricacies to tallying up points — or pins, as bowlers like to call them — which require a bit of study.

If you look at a scorecard, you’ll see 10 frames. Each frame denotes one round. If you don’t get a strike or spare, you get two opportunities to knock down the pins during each frame, or round. Every pin is worth one point.

When you hit all of the pins in your first roll, that’s called a strike. Strikes are scored as a 10, which is the maximum number of pins that can be knocked down. This is written as an X on the score sheet. If you get a strike, you still get two chances to knock down 10 pins. So at most, you can get 30 points per round, because 10+10+10 = 30.

If it takes you two rolls to hit all 10 pins down, that’s called a spare, and it’s written on the card as a ‘/’. You will still get a third roll. The best score you can get while with a spare is 20, because the first two rolls will be 10, plus an additional 10 on your third roll.

If you don’t get a strike or a spare, then you only get two rolls during your frame, or round. Simply add up the pins that you knocked down. For example, 3 pins during the first roll plus 3 during the roll afterwards is 6 for the round.

Using bowling to teach math to students can be fun!

Now it’s time to head over to the bowling alley! Ask your students to play a game, and make sure everyone gets a chance to keep score. Every time a student rolls the ball, ask the kids how many pins were knocked down. Ask them to use addition and subtraction to come up with the score for each frame. Quiz them on how strikes or spares can change the score. Ask them what a ‘perfect’ game scores like (answer: it’s (10+10+10) x 10 = 300). Make it a group learning activity!

Relate bowling to a ‘real’ math lesson

The next step is to show kids how their new bowling-scoring skills relate to math assignments. If children get stuck on an arithmetic problem, show them that doing addition and subtraction is no different from scoring a game of bowling!

Many teachers may be pleasantly surprised to notice their students’ adding and subtracting skills improve!

See related posts on our education blog:

• Focused math lesson — Teach students statistics using baseball
• Focused math lesson: Teaching kids math with cars
• Focused lesson — teach kids math and meteorology with barometers
• Backgammon math lessons to teach kids

As teachers and parents, we have to find ways to present old lessons to kids in new ways. That’s what helps keeps students interested and engaged in learning. Education can be greatly enhanced if you can find a way to present a concept using something a student can be interested in. Sports often happen to be a point of interest for many kids! So today we’re going to examine how you can teach students statistics using baseball.

How are baseball and statistics related?

Baseball, like many other sports, keeps track of player and team performances using statistical measures. We’ll briefly go over a few below and later give suggestions on how you can teach students statistics using baseball.

Batting average — This is calculated by dividing the number of hits by the total number of bats.

The formula is: hits/bats.

W-L (Win-Loss) percentage: This is pretty self-explanatory. It’s the percentage of games a player or team has won.

The formula is: Number of games won/ Number of games played.

Earned Run Average (ERA) — This number measures how good a pitcher is. An ‘earned run’ means the batter made it to home base because of their skill — not because of a fielding error or a passed ball. ‘Fielding errors’ are essentially mistakes made by people playing in the field. ‘Passed balls’ describes a mistake made by the catcher at home plate.

The formula is: (Earned Runs/Innings Pitched) x 9.

We multiply by nine because a baseball game lasts nine innings. This last step is important, because if you don’t multiply it by nine, you’re getting the amount of earned runs per inning, not per game.

Harnessing passion can help us teach students statistics using baseball

So now that we’ve gone over a few rudimentary statistical measures used in baseball, it’s time to apply them to a math lesson. The best way to introduce this is by getting students to pick a player or team they like. Ask them how they would calculate the statistics. Then give them the proper formulas and explain the reasoning behind them.

The great thing about this approach is that it can immediately engage a student’s interest. When you use an interest they are passionate about — in this case baseball — as a motivator, children often learn faster.

So they’ve figured out stats for their favourite teams — now what?

This is the exciting part. Present them with some math questions. For example, ask them to calculate a simple percentage based on a grade they received. For example, if they got 9/10 questions right on a test, ask them what the percent is.

Some of them will probably say they don’t know how to do it. But then you can smile and tell them they actually do! Tell them calculating a W-L percentage is the exact same thing!

Same goes for the other formulas. Give them problems that mirror the reasoning you find in the baseball stats. Both you and the students might be pleasantly surprised to see patterns in baseball stats emerging in math problems!

See related posts on our education blog:

• Backgammon math lessons to teach kids
• Focused math lesson: Teaching kids math with cars
• Focused math lesson — using bowling to teach math to students
• Focused lesson — teach kids math and meteorology with barometers

Learning about the solar system is an important part of every child’s education. Planetary science or planetology, which is the study of planets, is one of the fastest growing areas of scientific research. In this lesson, we’ll discuss how you can teach students about the solar system.

Why is it important to teach kids about the solar system?

Knowledge about the solar system is more important than ever. It helps us appreciate the Earth. It gives us incentives to preserve and respect our natural resources.

And it helps us answer some of biggest questions of our day and age.

NASA says studying the solar system may help us understand important issues, such as how global warming will affect the Earth or how life originated on our planet.

Go to the movies!

Probably one of the easiest ways to get your children interested in the solar system is by showing them films. It can be hard to make the solar system interesting in a conversation. But showing videos, documentaries or even Hollywood movies can make planetary science come alive. With regard to documentaries, we’d recommend trying out National Geographic’s Journey to the Edge of the Universe.

But if a documentary is a little too much for your student to process, perhaps start off with science fiction movies. Yes, even watching Hollywood films can serve as an educational experience. But you need to make sure you hold a discussion with your kids afterwards to straighten out the facts.

One way you can teach students about the solar system is by having them watch a movie like Interstellar. Then ask them to spot what parts of the movie are scientifically accurate and what parts aren’t as they watch. Turn it into a game!

Of course, be on the watch for mature content and, if necessary, skip through parts of the movie you think might be disturbing to your child.

Make teaching the solar system visual!

A powerful way to show kids about the solar system is to create a model. One way you can do this is by cutting different-coloured planets out of construction paper and laying them out on the floor.

Put the sun in the centre and ask your children to place the planets in their right spots. Then talk about each planet. There are plenty of resources that can help with this.

Show students the planets and stars!

On a clear night, go to an area with little light pollution and try to find each of the planets. This approach often helps students learn about the solar system. Having children look at the planets in the sky helps makes the lessons tangible and real.

Spotting planets might be a little tricky at first, but with a little bit of practice, anyone can get it! Once your students learn how to spot planets, you can even start looking at constellations.

In addition to being a lot of fun, it can help students navigate. We’ve covered this topic before in our blog.

Make learning about the solar system fun!

Take the knowledge that you’ve taught your kids and turn it into a game! Family trivia nights about the solar system are a great way to start.

Another fun idea would be to play ‘I Spy” with your kids. Ask them to spot constellations and planets. See who can do it the fastest!

Use your imagination! There are many ways to make learning about the solar system fun!