From Mathnasium to Harvard
Here the story from one of our former Parents about how Mathnasium gave her son the confidence and tools to succeed in Math. He was just accepted by Harvard and Yale and will be attending Harvard in the fall.
Why do kids struggle with Algebra?
We’ve asked algebra teachers what skills they wish their students were better at coming into Algebra class? Their answers were always the same 3 skills: Multiplication facts, Fractions, and Integers. So why are kids universally weak in these 3 areas?
Multiplication facts – Most kids just don’t know them well enough. They’ve learned a song or jingle to help them count up by instead of just learning an individual fact. This makes them always have to take the long counting route to come up with the answer. If they get off on their counting along the way, they end up at the wrong answer. Since Algebra has so much multiplication in it, the faster they can pull the facts from memory, the more efficient and less frustrating the work is going to be. At this point, kids are also now able to use calculators, so they start to get out of practice on their basic skills. They lose the ability to check the reasonableness of the answer given by the calculator. In fact, there are many area of Algebra where calculators cannot help.
Fractions - In all of math, fractions are the skill that most kids lack. Usually when a fraction shows up in a problem, there is no quick review given to remind students how to do it. In fact, we see many students skip the problems that contain fractions. The problem is, most of your daily life contains fractions: 1/2 tank of gas, 5/8" wrench, 3/4 cup of sugar. Our kids need to feel comfortable with fractions, so they can function as adults. For more information on why kids struggle with fractions, visit our fractions page.
So, let’s say we are trying to figure out -3 + -4. We start at -3. Then we need to add, which usually means we get bigger. But we are adding a negative number, so we do the opposite. This means we are actually getting smaller by 4, so we end up at -7. (See the graphic for example)
The fact is – unless your child has a solid foundation in these skills and confidence in their ability, they will continue to struggle in Algebra and beyond. The skills and concepts are only going to build and become more complex, so making sure they know what they are doing now will set them up for success.
Next - Visit our Teaching Methods page or Promotions page.