Students Struggle with Math - Especially in Saskatchewan - What Can We Do To Help Them?
Math is difficult for many students.
The subject students tend to struggle with the most is math. Why is this? Of course, COVID-19 and its disruption on schools and learning did not help matters, but even before COVID-19 the subject students tended to struggle with the most was math.
While I was fortunate to always be good in math and find it easy (scoring the second highest mark in Saskatchewan in a math competition in grade 6 and always at the top in my school), I know that for other students it is not as easy.
A few of my classmates in Educational Math classes (students who were also becoming high school math teachers) wanted to become math teachers because they had struggled in math and they wanted to help students who struggled like they did. I wondered how they would pass the university-level math classes that we needed to take to earn a Bachelor of Education degree with a major in Mathematics Education. They managed, they might not have earned the top marks, but they managed.
Even students who are good at math seem to fear some levels of math. It is well-known that Mathematics Education majors at the University of Regina must take one 300-level math class. Not a big deal, right? These are students who want to become math teachers, they are probably good at math and love math. Not exactly! To my knowledge, I am the only Mathematics Education major who graduated in 2004 who took an “actual” math class as their 300-level math course (Linear Algebra III), rather than a course about the history of mathematics.
Therefore, I set out on a quest to discover statistics (statistics is my favourite area of mathematics!) about students struggling with math and the reasons for which many students struggle with math, as well as how we and others can help.
How Serious is the Problem? How Much Do Students Struggle with Math?
In 2022, it was found that grade 10 students in Saskatchewan were tied for last place with grade 10 students in New Brunswick, with an average score for math on the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) of 468. This was a drop of 17 points from 2018 scores, which is significant as PISA equates a 15-point drop to the elimination of a year of learning. Therefore, on average, Saskatchewan grade 10 students, in 2022, knew a little more than a year of learning less of math than Saskatchewan grade 10 students did four years earlier. Saskatchewan grade 10 students’ scores had an average of 468 points, while the average Canadian grade 10 student scored 497. This means that Saskatchewan grade 10 students were approximately two years behind average in math compared to students in the rest of the country in 2022! Quebec had the highest average at 514. (Source: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/pisa-2022-results-volume-i-and-ii-country-notes_ed6fbcc5-en/canada_901942bb-en.html)
In a global context, Canada scores well, behind only eight other areas in the math category (Singapore, Macao (China), Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Korea, Estonia, and Switzerland). However, math scores have steadily declined across all Canadian provinces since 2003 and one in five Canadian students performed at the lowest level on the PISA, below Level 2. Only 12% of Canadian students ranked as high achievers, scoring at Level 5 or Level 6 (in Singapore, 41% of students scored at the top level). (Source: https://tnc.news/2023/12/05/students-math-scores-drop/)
Even back in 2003, Saskatchewan students performed significantly below the Canadian average in all four areas of mathematics that were tested on the PISA (space and shape, change and relationships, quantity, and uncertainty) and Saskatchewan was the only non-Maritime province to score significantly below the Canadian average in any of the areas. (Source: https://www.cmec.ca/docs/pisa2003/pisa2003.en.pdf) This is particularly interesting because, since 1993, Saskatchewan has been part of the Western Canadian Protocol (now renamed as the Western Northern Canadian Protocol) for Collaboration in Basic Education Kindergarten to Grade 12 for mathematics, along with Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, and Nunavut. Therefore, we have the same curriculum as they use in Alberta, and Alberta students performed significantly above the Canadian average in all four areas of mathematics, and in British Columbia, the students performed significantly above the Canadian average in uncertainty. No other province that uses the Western Northern Canadian Protocol performed significantly lower than the Canadian average in any of the four areas of math. What is particularly sad, in my point of view, is that Saskatchewan students performed the same as the Canadian average in terms of interest and enjoyment in mathematics, belief in the usefulness of mathematics, perceived ability in mathematics, and mathematics anxiety. However, Saskatchewan students performed significantly lower than the Canadian average in terms of mathematics confidence. The Saskatchewan students are not less disengaged in math than the average Canadian student, they want to learn! Therefore, this is an indication that it is the schools that are failing them - not the curriculum, and not their levels of engagement in mathematics.
In 2022, the average fourth-grade mathematics score on NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) mathematics scales in the United States decreased by 5 points and was lower than all previous assessment years going back to 2005. Meanwhile, there was an overall decline in eighth-grade mathematics scores for the first time since the initial mathematics assessment in 1990. (Source: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=514)
Why Do So Many Students Struggle with Math?
Abstract Concepts
As math teachers, we learn about the concrete-to-abstract continuum. If you ever wondered why you started with blocks in math class, then had pictures, and then had numbers for some skills - this is why! Many students find math difficult because it is hard to visualize math or relate it to everyday experiences. That is why we, at Clever Minds Online Learning Centre, use as many examples related to the real world as possible when teaching math.
Missed a Step? That Makes Life Very Difficult in Math!
Math builds on itself, with each new concept depending on the understanding of previous concepts. If a student misses or does not fully grasp a concept, all the later concepts that rely on understanding that concept become much more difficult to master. It is like they are a brick wall and as the wall is being built there are an increasing number of missing bricks in each higher row. This is why we provide Math Assessments, find the weak or missing areas in the student’s math history, and work with them and their family to build a sturdy foundation! Here are some middle years math resources that can help with practice and review.
Tip for Parents: Quiz your kids on their basic math facts from a young age, make a point to especially meet with their math teacher and ask the teacher what your child’s weak areas are in math, then work on those skills with your child - or have us help your child with those skills!
Problem-Solving Skills
Students often ask, “When am I ever going to use this in real life?” in math class. Even as a math teacher, I will be honest and say that there are some concepts in high-level math classes that you will likely never use in real life unless you are a high school math teacher in real life! However, math teaches students how to think, solve problems, and use logic!
The problem is, we start teaching math to students who are four years of age, but the rational part of the human brain is not fully developed until people reach approximately the age of 25!
Does this mean that we should not teach math to people until they are 25 years of age? No! Absolutely not! We are talking about when the rational part of the human brain is fully developed, it starts developing much earlier than that. In fact, the brain of a five-year-old child is approximately 90% the size of that of a fully grown adult. The early years are the best opportunity for a child’s brain to develop the connections that are necessary for them to become healthy, capable, successful adults. The connections needed for problem-solving are formed in the early years - or not formed. It is critical that the connections be formed in the early years because it is much more difficult for these brain connections to be formed later in life. Between ages 4 and 7, the child develops primitive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is developed between ages 7 and 9. Between ages 11 and 14, the youth solves more complex problems and develops abstract thinking and deductive reasoning.
Since their brains are just starting to learn how to solve problems, having concrete steps for solving math word problems can be very helpful. That is why we teach how to solve math word problems in a very step-wise manner. They need to be taught how to approach a problem, choose the correct method, apply it correctly, and check that their answer is correct (or at least reasonable).
Tip for Parents: Ask your kids to help you solve math puzzles in everyday life - like, if you are shopping and a shirt is 20% off, ask them how much it will cost. If you are baking and tripling the recipe, ask them how much of each ingredient will need to be used.
Anxiety
Students know that math is one of the most important subjects, which explains why it is even more stressful for them when they have trouble with the subject area. This anxiety can interfere with a student’s ability to focus and think clearly. This is why we help students by providing them with practice tests, support, and study skills.
Tip for Parents: Do not admonish your child when they get a bad grade on a test. Rather, discuss grades on tests openly and honestly from a young age. Ask them what marks they get, whether they are happy with those marks, how much they study before the tests, how they think they could improve their performance on tests, etc. Be sure to feed them a healthy and nutritious breakfast every day, especially on days when they have tests!
Teaching Methods
How math is taught can also impact how well students understand it. While I was good at math, that does not mean I always had a deeper understanding of the topic. For example, I knew that the process to find the x-intercept was to set y equal to zero and solve for x and that the process to find the y-intercept was to set x equal to zero and solve for y. I did not know why that was the process, I just knew it was the process. I had a lightbulb moment in university when I realized why that was the process, it was so obvious, but no teacher had ever told me why that was the process! That is why we do not simply tell students the steps to solve problems in math, we explain why the steps are taken to solve problems! We want students to understand math on a deeper level, we want them to have a very strong foundation to build on!
Tip for Parents: At the supper table, ask your kids what they learned in math class that day. Ask them to explain how to answer questions of that type, ask them to explain math concepts, etc. Maybe this will help you relearn some math skills that you forgot about a long time ago!
Lack of Practice
Have you gotten good at a sport, playing a musical instrument, or beating others at a board game? How did you get so good at it? We bet that it was practice! In his bestselling book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell repeatedly refers to the “10 000 hour rule,” asserting that the key to achieving true expertise in any skill is practicing in the correct way, for at least 10 000 hours. Do you think your kids have done 10 000 hours of math during their lifetimes?
This is why we talk to parents and students about spending enough time each week on schoolwork. In general, students should spend 10 minutes x their grade level on schoolwork 5 times per week. For example, if a student is in grade 5, they should spend 10 minutes x 5 = 50 minutes, so 50 minutes on schoolwork five times per week. Generally, we recommend they do schoolwork on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then it is their choice of when they do schoolwork on the weekend.
When students are in high school and struggle in math, we recommend they spend at least five hours per week outside of school on math. We know that they might have a test in other subjects coming up, or they might need to write an essay, so these five hours can be placed flexibly throughout the five sessions. Of course, our weekly sessions with students count towards these five hours, so if a student gets help with math from us for two one-hour periods per week, they only need to do three hours per week of math on their own. This also helps to ensure that their math is being completed correctly.
Tip for Parents: Make sure your kids are using day planners, whether they are paper or electronic, and help them schedule the five blocks of time for schoolwork each week. Ask them what homework they have, and whether they are behind on anything in school (help them to make a plan to catch up if they are). Talk about when, during the day/evening, they are the most energetic and how they can best use that time to focus on schoolwork (and which subjects they should work on during those time periods).
Fixed Mindset Rather than Growth Mindset
Some students might think that they will always be bad at math, maybe a teacher even told them at one point that they are bad at math! We support, encourage, and uplift our students and fill in their previous gaps so they know they are prepared to do well in math! If students stay stuck in this mindset, it can hinder their willingness to work on math and to persevere when they struggle with math. Additionally, having someone to help them with their math makes the challenges much easier! Many students do not like the feeling of their brain becoming tired from thinking hard. However, with practice, they will become better at math and we can help them with the hurdles along the way and we can encourage them and cheer them on!
Tip for Parents: Encourage your kids to keep working hard on concepts that are challenging for them. If they say that they are bad at math, talk to them about it and have them change what they are saying to something that is more in line with a growth mindset (such as, I am working hard every week to get better at math!). Talk to your kids about something that you found difficult in school (or in life) but that, with practice, you improved.