Why do some students struggle with math?

Daniel Willingham:

Illiteracy and its costs to individuals and to society has long been a focus of concern in public policy. A corresponding lack of ability in mathematics--innumeracy--has received increasing attention in the last few decades. The ability to use basic math is more and more important as modern day society grows more complex.

Some children have a problem in learning to read that is disproportionate to any other academic challenge they face. Some children have a corresponding problem with math. For some reason, the ideas just don't come together for these students.

In a recent article, David Geary (2013) reviews evidence that one cause of the problem may be a fundamental deficit in the representation of numerosity.

Geary describes three possible sources of a problem in children's appreciation of number.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 21, 2013 1:03 AM
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