If you ask any child what their roughest subject is at school, one answer is bound to come up time and time again—math.  No matter how you slice it, many students cannot wrap their brains around these concepts.  Unfortunately, unlike other subjects that reinforce the material later on, failure to grasp a core skill early on may be particularly detrimental as students must use this skill with higher-level concepts in later math classes.  If a child “doesn’t get” fractions, then they aren’t just going to have problems in elementary math; they will also struggle greatly in algebra and geometry that uses this concept extensively.  So the question is, how can you ensure that your child is able to keep up with his or her math class?  Is tutoring the way to go?  The answer is a resounding—yes!

There are several reasons why parents should consider getting their child into a tutoring program of some kind.  This could be in the form of a professional company that offers tutoring services or it could be a local church or community group or after-school program which offers adult tutors or even peer tutors to assist children.  Regardless of the type of tutoring, parents should know the benefits.

• First, enrolling your child in a math-tutoring program shows your child that you value education.  Too often, children do not see learning as important.  They feel that they just have to show up to school and put in the time and they are through with it.  But by enrolling them in this type of activity, you are emphasizing to your child that you care about his or her education and you want to see them succeed.
• Another major benefit of math tutoring is that it allows a child to bolster his or her self-confidence and self-esteem.  Too often, students feel demoralized by low grades, particularly in math, and feel that they are “too dumb” to do the work.  Girls particularly fall victim to this negative stereotype that math is “too hard” and they need the reinforcement from positive role models that they can do this.  Once they begin to see success from the tutoring, they will have more confidence that will lead to greater academic success.
• Math is also very much a skills-based curriculum field.  Unlike a subject like history, math isn’t about just memorizing concepts and facts.  You have to practice the skills over and over with problems.  A tutor gives a student the ability to practice these problems with a guide who can assist them if they go off track and make a mistake.  If they make a mistake on their own doing homework, they will continue to make the mistake over and over and reinforce the error in their brain.  But a tutor can stop this early on and keep them on track.  The student can then continue to reinforce these skills at home on their own with online games that help them to practice the math concepts.
• Finally, if a student does not master a concept in a math class (such as the aforementioned fractions), oftentimes the teacher has to move on to the next section of the curriculum due to the demands of a fast-paced curriculum.  Little time is left in class for remediation and it is often easy for a child to get lost in the shuffle.  But a tutor can review and supplement this material in a way that a teacher cannot with one-on-one assistance.

If your child is struggling, or even if he or she just needs a little assistance, tutoring is definitely an option that you should consider.  This is a way that you can ensure your child does not fall behind now and in the future.  Math courses only get more complex as they go, and you don’t want your child trailing in the race early.

A critical subject that touches nearly every part of modern life, math often flies under the radar. Countless high school teachers have heard their students ask that seemingly ubiquitous question, “When will we ever use this?” Unfortunately, because they often regard math as a niche subject without real world merit, American kids are falling behind the rest of the world, when it comes to math aptitude. To promote higher achievement in this fundamental subject, it’s important that kids understand how it will impact their lives in the coming years.

Math Is Everywhere

Mathematics is a major part of our world; however, many people overlook its importance. In addition to countless other areas, math plays a big role in the following:

•  Cooking – Math is a major factor in the kitchen, where conversions and fractions help determine failure or success. In cooking, each ingredient is measured in kilograms, grams, pounds, ounces, tablespoons, or teaspoons. To serve multiple people, you have to know the proper way to multiply or divide based on the recipe you are working with.

• Budgets – American students have fallen way behind other countries in math. Sadly, this problem has been around for decades, resulting in numerous adults, who consistently mismanage their money. Millions of Americans have found themselves in credit card debt, because they haven’t been able to balance their budgets. If you want your children to successfully manage their money as adults; it’s important that they excel at math during their school years.

• Building – Whether you’re an amateur putting together a shelf or a professional building a house, you need math to do the job properly. Building guidelines require the understanding of measurements in feet, inches, meters, or centimeters. Without the appropriate knowledge, builders would be like rudderless ships sailing in the ocean without knowing their destinations.

• Diet – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 78 million Americans are overweight. To calculate an effective dieting program, people need math to understand exactly how many calories they should be consuming based on their height and weight.

• Work – Good math skills are a critical necessity for numerous professionals, including: engineers, physicians, researchers, teachers, attorneys, ecologists, statisticians, inventory strategists, chemists, accountants, carpenters, landscapers, architects, biologists and countless more. In fact, studies suggest that people who have good math skills tend to make much higher salaries when compared to those who don’t. Part of this is because math-related jobs pay more; however, it’s also due to math itself. In fact, according to the experts at College Board, when high school kids complete just a single geometry course, they are 80 percent more likely to attend college.

Turning the Tide

To the chagrin of teachers everywhere, math skills are declining. In a recent report ranking worldwide math aptitude, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked American students fifth to last in a list of 30 nations. To reverse this disturbing trend, parents and educators must focus on new ways to get kids interested in this critical subject, before inadequate skills lead to big problems during their adult lives.

In 1986, following a proclamation by President Ronald Reagan, a week was set aside as Mathematics Awareness Week.  In this proclamation, the president referred to the importance of mathematics towards the “progress of economy and our so

A recent blog posting on the New York Times website posed an interesting question, “Should computer games be used in classrooms”?  The author, a self-professed child of the 80s, admits to being a fan of video games, but also admits to having learned very little of value from them.  Having thrown the question open to the readers and asking for comments from the various readers of the blog, the answers are just as varied as the students who walk each day into the classrooms across the country.  From middle and high school students to instructors in America, Europe and South America, people chimed in with their comments and thoughts on this subject and the consensus is that yes, video games do have a place in the classroom.  But before students cheer at the thought of an Xbox in every classroom and luddites begin to bemoan the death of the education system, hear out what seems to also be the consensus.

Computer games most definitely have a place in the classroom.  But the emphatic phrase in that statement is “a place.”  Computer games are wonderful tools for reinforcing skills that have been taught in the classroom, giving a student the opportunity to hone his or her abilities with practice.  But just as a mechanical tool cannot repair a car on its own, a computer game cannot teach on its own.  They have to be used in conjunction with an academic curriculum that includes face-to-face instruction with a professional educator.  Particularly when it comes to math or science classes, computer games can reinforce basic skills after they have been taught with what have previously been the old pencil-and-paper drill and practice problems.  The games add a lively component that appeals to the relatively short attention span of today’s youth culture while also “tricking” them into learning with activities that they think are solely fun without realizing that they are also educational.  But it is highly unlikely that these students would be able to utilize these games were it not for a trained teacher instructing them in the skills necessary to be able to “beat the game.”

Computers and video games are here to stay.  Instead of running away from these technological advancements, teachers should embrace them and find ways to incorporate them into their classes and make them a part of their lessons.  Many teachers have shunned the advent of educational games out of a sense of fear that they will be replaced by computers; but the reality is, the games are just a tool which cannot replace a skilled and competent educational professional.

It’s sometimes called the “Mozart effect,” but is there really a connection between music and mathematics? The assertions, for and against, have fueled continuing debate, and are likely to go on doing so. However, there does seem to be connections between these two seemingly non-connected subjects.

The idea was first made popular in the early 1990s. Certain studies conducted around that time had test subjects listen to a sonata by Mozart, then perform a particular spatial-temporal task.

Lego for spatial-temporal reasoning

The early studies used Lego pieces, small plastic shapes that can easily be snapped together to build up a model of an object, to enable the test subjects to create a model of something they had been visualizing. An example might be a car, house or boat, or some similar common object.

The task with Lego pieces required spatial-temporal reasoning for successful completion, and the same parts of the brain are activated when listening to music. The belief was that if you deliberately activate those parts of the brain by listening to music, then go on to do something else that requires spatial-temporal reasoning, you will do it better than otherwise, as the brain is already “in tune,” so to speak.

You may be wondering why they used Lego pieces, and not math problems, initially. It was simply because the two tasks both require spatial-temporal reasoning, and are therefore similar in that respect. Later studies made the more direct connection between music and math.

Strengthening the mental-physical connection

We tend to get better at something the more we practice it. And if we practice one particular skill, then go on to learn another that requires some or all of the same skill sets we have already practiced, we tend to be better almost immediately at the second skill. This is simple logic, and while there’s certainly more to it than that, it goes some way to explaining a connection between music and math if they both require a similar mental-physical approach.

However, it appears that it is not music, per se, that can help with math, but rather, certain important aspects of music. It seems that when musical learning emphasizes sequential skill development, and when there is a strong focus on rhythm and meter, these musical exercises can, and do, enhance math ability. This, of course, is the so-called Mozart effect.

In studies, it was noted that after several months of music education involving rhythm and pitch concentration, as opposed to a more traditional musical education, children were observed to perform significantly better at math problems that they had done before receiving music lessons. In short, the visual and spatial skills that are learned when practicing on a musical instrument, help to strengthen the mental-physical connection that is highly applicable to math problems.

Spatial-temporal reasoning and language-analytical reasoning

Reasoning can be divided into two main types: spatial-temporal reasoning, and language-analytical reasoning. A good example of spatial-temporal reasoning can be found in board games like chess where the best players can think ahead several moves to anticipate a possible outcome.

Language-analytical reasoning is used in such things as solving equations, for example. Also, judgments can be made through language-analytical reasoning, based on a simple statement that implies something without actually saying it. We analyze the statement, then extrapolate judgmental information from it that is logical, reasonable and likely.

Why term it the Mozart effect?

A study by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky in 1993 found that the repetitive, sequential and very relaxing music found in a Mozart sonata produced a temporary enhancing effect on spatial-temporal reasoning. This was measured by giving test subjects a Stanford-Binet IQ test immediately after a prolonged listening session of the Mozart music.

It is also known that when someone attempts to solve math problems, especially with abstract algebra and calculus, they use the parts of the brain concerned with spatial-temporal reasoning. If one’s spatial-temporal reasoning skills can be enhanced, as through listening to, or performing, music, for example, then the conclusion is obvious.

The music of Mozart has been credited with many special powers. A sewage plant in Germany, for example, claims that playing Mozart’s music helps to break down the composition of waste, and they apparently play the great man’s music, loudly and constantly throughout the confines of the plant.

Zell Miller, Governor of Georgia, was so impressed by the idea that the music of Mozart could enhance math skills in children that he proposed a budget that would have given each child born inGeorgiaa recording of Mozart’s music. Sadly, his proposal was not taken up. Is there really any connection between music and mathematics? The debate continues, and will likely continue for some time to come.