✨Why is teaching math so darn hard?

I’m teaching my children the same subject in the same way, but their learning looks nothing alike.

Flash cards with my girls - Photo by Maren Elizabeth Photography

My youngest daughter just “gets math.” Most days she can teach herself. She still prefers that I do it because she likes being with me, but she doesn’t need it. She begs to play Dreambox, Zearn, and Khan Academy - for fun. It’s not always easy (clocks still give her trouble), but she’s a grade ahead and shows no signs of stopping.

My older daughter couldn’t be more different; she struggles. She needs things explained more than once, needs lots of time for practice, forgets the things she’s learned especially if they are too similar - adding vs multiplying fraction for example “look” very similar but are done very differently. She still manages to get good grades, but it takes her 3 times as long to do anything as my younger daughter.

They are being taught by the same person in the same way. They have very similar genetics - they get confused as twins all the time. And yet…

There is something fundamentally different about the way their brains approach math.

I’ve spent a LOT of time researching how the brain does math. As I wrote in my post Improve Your Kid’s Math Without Doing Math, to your brain math is visual (technically visuospatial). Math savants “see” math in their head.

In children who struggle with math or have dyscalculia (think dyslexia but for math), the intraparietal sulcus—the part of the brain that sees the math— doesn’t develop completely. It also doesn’t connect to the prefrontal cortex which specializes in focus and concentration.

In other words, some children can’t concentrate and manipulate math in their heads at the same time (or do so poorly).

The conventional wisdom has been to double down on conceptual math. Make struggling students SEE the math.

But this isn’t enough for struggling kids — and I don’t understand why no one is talking about it?

Don’t get me wrong, conceptual math is essential. But for my struggling math kid, no amount of explaining how math works gets her to application (doing the actual math problems). She needs the explanation, and then a TON of practice applying that knowledge.

She needs more procedural practice than my gifted math kid - a LOT more.

Her experience is backed up by research showing interventions that teach conceptual math followed by intense procedural math practice outperform conceptual or procedural programs alone.

The problem? Most math programs aren’t designed this way.

It’s not said aloud, but procedural math is looked down upon.

Like memorizing math facts, procedural math is considered less important in today’s world. Afterall isn’t AI just going to do all the math for us? All we have to do is just know what to ask the AI to do right?

But the more and more we remove these basic skills, the worse and worse kids are doing in math.

Today, a staggering 71% of 8th graders are NOT proficient in math. Turns out, Math Struggles often Start with Poor Math Facts.

As I discuss in my piece What AI Should NEVER Do For Your Kids, AI should never be allowed to do the hard work of thinking for your child. This not only robs your children of the ability to think, but it diminishes their capacity for future creativity built upon a foundation of knowledge.

You might be saying but Claire we’re talking about math here? Does my kid really have to be creative in math?

The answer is yes - absolutely they do. Higher order math requires creatively thinking about math. You can’t do calculus or solve complex math problems if you are busy trying to do basic arithmetic.

If you have a struggling math kid, it is likely in part because they do not have a strong enough procedural background. If they are being asked to add fractions, but don’t know their math facts → it will feel IMPOSSIBLE.

✨Turns out practice makes perfect isn’t just a cute saying - it’s 100% right.

Want to help your struggling math kid?

Below is everything I’ve learned about helping struggling math kids—from personal experience to evidence-based methods that work.

You’ll get:

The 6 strategies that make math click
My favorite procedural programs that build fluency
How to adapt your current curriculum without starting over
The tools to rebuild confidence through practice and understanding

Your kid could finally close their notebook smiling. Join to get it.

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🚨Kid Struggling with Math? Conceptual Math…

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