Bringing Maths Back to Life: Anna's Playful Approach to Learning
In the second of our series of reflections on our pilot Thrive Education project, our 15-week Alternative Provision (AP) for young neurodiverse people struggling to attend school or who have partly dropped out, Marine shares her experience of witnessing a transformative maths class led by Anna.
How Games, Patience, and Stories Helped Restore a Love for Numbers
Maths is a dreaded subject for many students, but Anna found a way to bring back the joy and curiosity that had been lost. Through patience, creativity, and a playful approach, she helped young learners regain faith in their mathematical ability again.
A Surprising Start
When I arrived in Anna’s maths class, I shared the same enthusiasm as most of the children: "Oh no, maths… yuk!" But Anna welcomed us with a big smile and said, "Let’s play a game, find the equivalent pairs!" On the floor, giant dominoes were scattered, waiting to be matched — 50% with a fraction of 1/2, for example. Suddenly, maths didn’t seem so boring after all.
The Power of Play
All of Anna’s lessons have a playful aspect. Whether it’s a game of times-tables practice or learning new number facts, everyone is encouraged to concentrate as best they can, ready to participate when their turn comes. Sometimes we fail, sometimes we succeed, but as a group, we grow. Points fly through the air and Anna throws imaginary bonus points for us to catch and put in our pockets. Everyone is becoming a more confident mathematician… even me!
Learning at Our Own Pace
By focusing on five questions in five minutes, maths can be less daunting, and daily practice can help with embedding knowledge and building confidence.
Anna allows students to work on exercises at their own pace, to build their toolkit for future reference. With a positive attitude, everyone can improve and learn, no matter their starting point. There's always a way forward if you try!
A Magical Ending
The highlight of the lesson comes at the end. Anna picks up a book and reads “The Number Devil”, a story about a boy who doesn’t like or understand maths at all. Through the story, mathematics comes to life, allowing us to discover the magic and beauty of numbers. This is a relaxing and fun way to complete the maths session, and also a way to explore some new mathematical concepts in a creative way. Some of the children even volunteered to read to the class!
What Anna's class showed me is that maths doesn’t have to be a subject of fear and frustration. With the right approach, patience, fun and creativity, learning opportunities become alive and meaningful. Thanks to Anna, her students are discovering that maths is not about meaningless calculations - it’s a world of patterns, logic, reasoning and endless possibilities.