If you are like many parents who come into our center, your high school child did fairly well in math through 7th or 8th grade. A’s and B’s on math tests happened fairly regularly. Homework wasn’t a big struggle. Semester math grades were “meeting or exceeding expectations.” The teacher told you everything was fine in math. And then … Bam! Your child starts algebra or geometry in high school and suddenly homework is a source of frustration or anger and they are only getting C’s (or worse!) on tests.
Does this scenario sound familiar? You are not alone! This happens to many middle school and high school students.
Why Do Math Grades Drop When Kids Get into Algebra and Geometry?
Advancing in math is like playing the classic game Jenga®. The game starts with blocks layered and stacked in a sturdy, but short, tower. Players take turns pulling out a block and stacking it on the top of the tower. As players pull blocks from the tower’s foundational layers and add to the top, the tower gets less sturdy. The bottom layers no longer adequately support the higher levels. Eventually the tower tumbles down.
Imagine each math concept and skill as a block in a Jenga® tower. Math skills and concepts build on each other to create a strong and sturdy structure for future concepts. If a child misses a foundational skill, or prerequisite skill, it becomes a math gap, and is like a block pulled from the foundation of the Jenga® tower. Imagine a Jenga® tower with a weak base getting higher and higher.
Most math through seventh grade is arithmetic. Arithmetic is a branch of mathematics that consists of the study of numbers, especially the properties of the traditional operations on them—addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation and extraction of roots. It is basically computation. The concepts are fairly concrete. Many children who only have a few math gaps can figure out an alternative method and keep advancing. It is like building the Jenga® tower with just a few blocks missing. For example, a child who doesn’t learn to skip count can memorize the multiplication tables instead. The more math gaps a child has, however, the more “alternative methods” they have to use. Many kids with a few math gaps manage to function in arithmetic fairly well. The problems start to occur when students advance into abstract math ideas like algebra and geometry. These math strands require students to synthesize several different math concepts and skills all at once. Those math gaps or, “missing blocks in their math tower,” become major liabilities. Suddenly those “work around strategies” aren’t enough anymore. Their tower tumbles and grades plummet.
Mathnasium founder, Larry Martinek commented recently at a class I attended that when children organically understand math concepts and how numbers relate, algebra becomes simple computation. Wouldn't that be cool for your high schooler?!
How to Get your Child Back on Track in Math
The answer is to fill in their math gaps and keep up with current learning. Filling in the math gaps makes their tower sturdy again. As they add new concepts and skills their tower gets taller. Mathnasium of Littleton helps fill in math gaps from previous years and helps with current classroom work simultaneously. The sooner your child gets help, the easier it will be to get them on the road to success again. You will be amazed at what your child can do!
Give us a call today. 303-979-9077
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