Young children begin school with a natural curiosity and interest in mathematics. They come to school with an understanding of simple mathematical concepts and problem-solving strategies that they have discovered through explorations of the world around them during their early years of life.

Unfortunately, despite all of the good work that is being done by remarkable teachers in elementary and secondary classrooms across Ontario, between the time they enter school as a child and the time they take their place in society as adults, for many people the "sense-making" of mathematics is lost.

And yet, in our information-and technology-based society, especially the one in which our children will live, individuals must be able to think critically about complex issues adapt to the many new situations that come their way, solve a wide variety of problems at work and at home, and then be able to communicate the results effectively to others around them.

There is no question, therefore, that mathematics is and will continue to become an even more powerful learning tool. 

As children identify the relationship between mathematical concepts and everyday situations, they develop the ability to apply mathematics to every part of their lives and to other curriculum areas as well. 

It has been said that if you are good in math, you will be good in all subjects and indeed in all activities and initiatives that you undertake in life.

Therefore, as a parent, it should give you some cause for concern if your son or daughter is having difficulties in mathematics while he / she is still in the early years of formal education.

While it is true that every year in a child's education is important, it is my opinion as a professional educator that the most critical years tend to be the junior years - namely, grades 4 through 6.

Indeed, it is an important time of transition and growth in the life of a child period!

There is an obvious and natural shifting to more abstract reasoning as junior students begin to make connections between different concepts and develop methods that can be applied to new situations. They begin to find more than one method of solving problems and they develop the ability to effectively communicate their findings to others.

For some students, the junior years are a time of growing mathematical confidence, interest and sophistication in the subject.

However, for others, it is a time of growing confusion and a time when they abandon their natural ability to think mathematically and to make sense of mathematical situations. Tragically , for these students, mathematics becomes a set of rules to be memorized and followed, without creativity or sense.

If your child is in one of the junior grades ( Grade 4 through 6 ) and he/she is becoming confused and disenchanted with mathematics, you should be a very concerned parent. I repeat...you should be a very concerned parent.

This is a very critical period in your child's education and if he / she begins to fall behind at this time, or begins to develop a negative attitude towards mathematics at this young age level, the repercussions are likely to follow for the rest of his / her life.

There are two very serious concerns every parent should have at this time:

1. While most children are able to demonstrate the ability to handle the basic skills by the end of Grade 6, many of them do not see much sense in what they are doing and have difficulty applying their knowledge in problem-solving situations. The difficulties in this area begin during the junior years and become more pronounced during the next four years in grades 7 to 10.
    
2. As students move through the school system there seems to be a negative shift in attitude towards mathematics. This negative shift does not affect all students, but as you will see below, the number is significant and your own child may be affected. Once again, if you notice the early signs, there may be something you can do as a parent to overcome the problems before it is too late. One of your options is to arrange to have a private tutor "coach" your child through this stage of his/her life.

A study in 1993 found that two-thirds of Kindergarten and Grade 1 students enrolled in mathematics programs that focused on problem solving were able to solve the following problem:

• If a class of 19 children is going to the zoo and each car can take 5 children, how many cars are needed?

When asked whether all the cars were full, they said: "No, there is an extra seat in one car." or "Yes, because I'm going too."

In other words, they were making sense of the question.

On the other hand....

Grade 8 students enrolled in non-problem-solving programs were asked the same type of question, with larger numbers:

• An army bus holds 36 soldiers. If 1,128 soldiers are being bused to their training site, how many buses are needed?

Two-thirds of the 45,000 grade 8 students tested performed the long division correctly. However, some wrote that "31, remainder 12" buses were needed, or just 31, disregarding the remainder.

Only one-quarter of the total group gave the correct answer of 32 buses.

THAT'S RIGHT....Only 25% of the total group of grade 8 students came up with the correct answer. Yet, 67% of the grade 1 students were able to answer the same type of problem.

THE CONCLUSION: For the Grade 8 students, "mathematics" meant carrying out procedures without making sense of what they were doing.

As noted, most of the Grade 8 students could determine that they had to divide 1,128 by 36, and they were also able to come up with the correct answer to the division question, but most of those students were unable to make enough sense of their work to determine that if there were 12 soldiers left over, you just couldn't leave them behind or squeeze them into the other buses,  you would need an extra bus to take those 12, even if the bus was over half empty.

The Ontario provincial assessment for students at the Grade 6 level in 2003 showed that 36% of the students achieved a mark that was below the provincial standards. While this was not very encouraging, there was another indicator that was even more of a concern.

Three years prior to the particular 2003 Grade 6 test, namely in the year 2000, those very same students who took the Grade 6 test were asked to indicate whether or not they liked mathematics. When they were In Grade 3, 68% of the boys and 60% of the girls stated that they liked math. These were good numbers.

Three years later, by the end of Grade 6, however, only 55% of the boys and 40% of the girls reported liking math.

While there has been significant improvement in the teaching of mathematics in Ontario schools, it is also painfully obvious that for many boys and girls, mathematics has become a subject that they learn to fear and dislike as they move through the grades, especially through the Junior Grades of grades 4 through 6. 

Unfortunately, as children become less confident mathematically, they learn to stop thinking mathematically, and come to rely on memorizing procedures to get the correct answers. Mathematics becomes a guessing game which makes very little sense.

What is even more disconcerting from the statistics is that by the end of Grade 6 as many as 60% of the girls no longer like math.

Furthermore, almost half of the boys do not like math.

These statistics are cause for alarm and should set off warning bells and whistles for all parents.

If as many as half of the children have developed a negative attitude towards math by the end of Grade 6, there is a good chance that your child may be one of them.

And if that is the case, the following section will be even more alarming.

Without a doubt, the junior years have a significant impact on whether students see themselves as capable of mathematics as well as on whether they view mathematics as an interesting subject worth pursuing. 

Furthermore, a child's attitude towards mathematics and capacity for mathematics are closely linked. 

Moreover, studies have found that one's attitude towards mathematics is developed early and is fairly stable throughout life. This is worth repeating.

One's attitude towards mathematics is developed early and is fairly stable throughout life.

In other words, if a child develops a negative attitude towards mathematics in the junior years, he/she is likely to maintain this negative attitude for the rest of his/her life, right into adulthood. Parents who themselves have a negative attitude towards mathematics likely developed this attitude while they were in elementary school.

Conversely, if a child develops a positive attitude towards mathematics in the junior years, he/she is likely to maintain this attitude for the rest of his/her life and will continue use mathematics to make sense out of all areas of life right into adulthood..

If your young child is beginning to struggle with mathematics, or if he/she is demonstrating evidence of a shift towards a negative attitude towards mathematics, then this is something you must take seriously as a parent. You do not want your child to develop a negative attitude towards mathematics during the junior years knowing that this attitude will be extremely hard to change as the years go on. And with so much emphasis on information and technology today, anyone who has difficulty with math will face many serious challenges when they try to qualify for a satisfying career.

DO NOT! I repeat, DO NOT simply disregard this negative attitude towards mathematics as something that your child will grow out of. Studies have clearly shown that negative attitudes grow and become more entrenched as a child ages and progresses through their formal education years. A child who hates mathematics at the end of grade 6 is not likely to begin loving it by the end of grade 8 unless something drastic changes his/her attitude. That is why The Greater Sudbury Learning Clinic places such profound importance on providing local children with effective tutoring instruction in mathematics at the elementary and secondary levels.

It has been found that instruction that is focused on problem-solving; providing students with a range of solution methods; and helping students develop effective methods of communicating  ideas often results in a more positive attitude towards mathematics, a less narrow view of the subject, and a stronger understanding of mathematics.

That is why The Learning Clinic has adopted a problem-solving focus to the development of effective programs of instruction for students in its care. We not only ensure that our students understand the basic skills of mathematics, we also work closely with each of our students to provide them with the necessary coaching that will help them apply these skills to solve problems which will help make sense of the world around them. 

Above all, we work on instilling a positive attitude in all of our students because we know that attitude is critical in determining the level of success a child will experience in all of life's endeavours.

This doesn't mean it is the end of the world and as a parent you should just give up. 

On the contrary! 

As a parent it is your responsibility to do whatever you can to provide your child with every opportunity to learn. It is still not too late to turn things around. It just might take a bit longer to overcome the accumulated effect of the Junior years.

In its introductory remarks, the Expert Panel on Student Success In Ontario: Mathematical Literacy, Grades 7 - 12, states,

 "Mathematics is a fundamental human endeavour that empowers individuals to describe, analyze, and understand the world in which we live. Mathematics is embedded in the modern workplace and in everyday life. We must embrace the fact that every adult and every child CAN DO mathematics."

As a private sector professional Learning Coach, it is my belief in the ability of my students to become mathematically literate that helps develop the self-confidence they need to succeed. I truly believe that self-confidence is a key ingredient in learning and success in mathematics. Without self-confidence, you will not succeed in mathematics. When my students see that I have confidence in their abilities, they too begin to develop self-confidence and take the necessary steps to succeed in achieving their objectives.

Mathematical literacy implies that one has the ability to estimate; interpret data; solve day-to-day problems; reason in numerical, graphical, and geometric situations; and communicate using mathematics. It implies the confidence to apply one's knowledge base in the practical world.

One look at the workplace is enough to prove that mathematics is the cornerstone of a growing number of industries and careers. Problem solving, the processing of information, and effective communication of this information are becoming routine job requirements. Mathematics arises in everyday situations both inside and outside the workplace. It is the key to coping with a changing society. 

Without mathematical literacy, the adult of tomorrow will be lost. It is just as important as reading and writing and in fact is so entwined with today's way of life that we cannot even begin to imagine how we will be able to comprehend the information that surrounds us without a basic understanding of mathematical ideas.

If, despite all of the best efforts of your child's teachers during the junior years, your son or daughter is still struggling with mathematics in grades 7 through 10, it is not too late to provide him / her with private tutoring that is based upon the philosophy inherent in the "learning coach approach" which has been adopted by The Greater Sudbury Learning Clinic. 

A child who is underachieving in mathematics may just need some outside assistance to develop the self-confidence that is needed to achieve a higher degree of success. The knowledge of having the support and guidance of a "personal professional mathematics coach" may be enough to enable your son or daughter to become mathematically literate and then apply those skills and abilities to other areas of curriculum and indeed life itself.

The Expert Panel on Student Success In Ontario: Mathematical Literacy, Grades 7 - 12 makes it very clear, and we at The Learning Clinic agree: "Everyone is capable of becoming mathematically literate. The path towards this social goal begins at home and in the classroom, supported by the family and the community. All students can learn mathematics - with enough support, resources and time - and we must ensure that they do!"

The Greater Sudbury Learning Clinic is prepared to assist your child in the area of mathematics.

Call me today to discuss your options.

 
The Learning Clinic is The Private Practice of
Robert Kirwan, B.A. (Math), M.A. (Education), OCT
4456 Noel Crescent, Val Therese, ON P3P 1S8
Phone: (705) 969-7215    Email:    rkirwan@thelearningclinic.ca

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