A study by the RAND Corporation’s newly established American Youth Panel, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, asked respondents about their attitudes toward math and their comfort with the subject, according to an Education Week article.
In other words, are you a “math person”? Most students have made up their mind about that question by the time they’re in middle school, according to the RAND study.
The study finds many students are disengaged in their math classes and don’t feel confident in their abilities.
Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they first identified as a “math person” sometime in or before 5th grade. Another 23% said they first claimed that identity in grades 6-8; only 7 percent said they started to feel like “math people” in high school. About one-third said they have never identified with the label.
The RAND survey provides other major findings. About half of middle and high school students said they lost interest in math lessons at least half of the time. Students who were most engaged shared key traits: They were confident they could do well, they enjoyed the subject and felt supported in class, and they said they could understand math well.
Research does suggest how to increase student engagement. The RAND report offers a list of evidence-based suggestions that include teachers modeling excitement about and engagement in the math that students are learning, starting at a young age.
Studies show that teachers’ knowledge of, and attitudes toward, math can affect their students’ achievement in elementary school. When teachers have a deeper understanding of elementary math and how to teach it, students perform better.
But a separate recent analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality found that only 21 states provide “clear, detailed” guidance to teacher-preparation programs for what content to cover in four main areas of elementary math: numbers and operations, algebraic thinking, geometry and measurement, and data analysis and probability.
“Without clear, detailed guidance on what teachers are expected to know, aspiring teachers may not learn essential math concepts during their training, ultimately weakening the quality of instruction they provide to students,” the report stated.
Still, it’s likely most future math teachers are trained in some of the same pedagogical skills, data from the EdWeek Research Center suggests.
Postsecondary instructors who teach math education were asked how often they taught their students how to implement different approaches in the K-12 classroom.
Asked about the skill of connecting new math content to prior knowledge, 96% of instructors said they discussed this extensively in class; most also offered opportunities for students to practice. Eighty-eight percent said the same for identifying and responding to math misconceptions.
Education Week
