Math Brain or Bust?

It’s no secret that some people are naturally good at some things, like playing the cello, or basketball or ping pong or flip cup (is that still a thing these days with kids?!). Those who become known nationally or throughout the world for being exceptional at whatever their thing is, are there because of a lot of work, but also likely because they have a natural talent for whatever their activity is. Thinking about math this way is one way to think about it; that people who are “good” at math are naturally good at it because they have a genetic predisposition for it. But what if the ability to do and be good at math is really just about learning math in a way that makes sense to the individual? What if learning math is less about the type of brain you have, and more about how it’s taught to you? In this blog, we’re going to challenge you to let go of the thought that math is only for certain kinds of people. Math is for everyone. 

For starters, there are plenty of notable successful people in the world who were not great math students. Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison and Charles Darwin are all pretty common household names, yet they struggled in school in general, but especially in math. It’s not because they were not smart, capable individuals, it’s because teaching, at the time, was a one-size-fits-all approach and those who didn’t learn in a specific way did not do well in school. Thank goodness a lot has changed since those people were educated, including neuroscience research that’s been conducted in the last few years. The finding from brain studies has explained a lot about the workings of the human brain, including the way we learn and teach math. 

The first thing that has been discovered is that our brains have the ability to grow and change in different areas, depending on what we’re practicing and doing in our lives. It had been previously thought that as we aged we became less adaptable to learning new patterns and things, such as language. Scientists now know that physically, different areas of the brain can grow throughout one’s life. When a person over or under utilizes parts of their brain, new pathways form or dissipate, so that actual brain matter can grow and shrink. For instance, the hippocampus, the area of the brain where spatial and mathematical thinking are linked to, has been found to grow when being used a lot, sort of like a muscle when it’s used. The fact that it can actually grow could means that almost anybody is capable of learning mathematics and spatial reasoning, given they practice and are taught it in a way that allows them to build on it.

The second neuroscience finding related to math is the amount of different parts of the brain that are involved when solving math problems. Scientists can now tell that math involves at least 5 different brain pathways, 3 of which are ones that would typically be associated with math and spatial endeavors, but 2 of which are distinctly visual receptors and seemingly don’t have much to do with logical thinking. The fact that there are 2 extra pathways found in most people when doing math tells us that the brain works cross functionally and that there is more to understanding math than just one region of the brain working in a silo. The same can then be said for teaching math; using movement, tables, drawings, models, patterns and anything else that helps kids form connections between math and real life and not just writing problems on a white board means they’ll likely be making more connections in their brain and wrapping their head around a concept better. 

Lastly, you already know now that brains can actually grow and get larger. The catch is, they don’t grow when they aren’t challenged. When we make mistakes, correct them, then move on to more challenging things and we keep repeating this, brains grow vs. when we just keep on doing the same thing over and over. It’s hard to see children struggle and we typically try to keep them from struggling when we’re parents. When students embrace the struggle, sit with it, work through it and overcome it, it helps new pathways and connections form in their brain. Not only that but overcoming builds character and confidence.

We at Mathnasium of Littleton are here to help your child build the right foundational skills to overcome whatever math fear or belief is lurking in their mind. We believe that it is possible for nearly everyone to develop numerical fluency and number sense, and neuroscience certainly seems to be backing us.