Newsmaker Spotlight

Dr. Barnes Discusses Importance of Increasing Quality Math Programs for Children

Dr. Marcia Barnes is an internationally acclaimed developmental neuropsychologist who joined the Children’s Learning Institute as a Professor of Pediatrics, with an endowed Chair in Childhood Reading and Learning. She is also an Adjunct Scientist in the Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Barnes’s research focuses on academic skill development and learning disabilities with a special emphasis on learning difficulties in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. In addition, she studies mathematics and reading comprehension in preschoolers and school age children. She has served on the Ontario Ministry of Education’s expert panel on special education that produced report entitled, Education for All: Literacy and Numeracy Instruction for Students with Special Education Needs Kindergarten to Grade 6. She co-authored a book, Learning Disabilities: From Identification to Intervention, with Drs. Jack Fletcher, Reid Lyon, and Lynn Fuchs.   In addition, Dr. Barnes has written extensively on how to close the education gap for at-risk children. Dr. Barnes is currently collaborating with Dr. Alice Klein and Dr. Prentice Starkey to study early mathematics and learning. We talked with her about mathematics and how she approaches her research through both a neurodevelopmental and a cognitive lens.

Q. Could you explain to us how the brain operates relative to learning and performing mathematical skills?

A. Mathematics is not a unitary skill; rather it encompasses many domains and concepts including arithmetic, geometry and algebra. This means that many brain systems are likely to be involved in dealing with mathematical information. While much has been learned about how arithmetic computations are performed and how the brain understands some types of quantitative information, relatively little is known about what brain systems are involved in the other areas of math. We do know that parietal areas of the brain are important in mathematical performance in adults.  Language areas of the brain are also involved in some mathematical functions. Much of what we currently understand about how the brain processes mathematical information comes from the study of adults.  Dr. Andy Papanicolaou, CLI’s Director of the Center for Clinical Neurosciences, along with other research faculty focus on studying children’s brains.  His pioneering research seeks to understand the brain underpinnings of mathematical processing in children using specialized brain imaging techniques.

Q. There seems to be an increased concern about children and their ability to learn and master mathematical concepts. Why do you think this has become such a focus?

A. Modern industrialized societies such as ours require increasingly advanced math skills both in school and in the workplace. Advanced quantitative literacy is important in many highly skilled careers, including engineering, science and computer technology. Additionally, many trades such as construction workers, automotive mechanics, carpenters, and electricians require workers who have a strong grasp of mathematical concepts.

Math has a ubiquitous impact on our daily lives. As consumers of advertising and the news, we are constantly faced with the need to understand numerical and quantitative information.  Moreover, when we shop, pay our bills, take medications, or calculate the gratuity at our favorite restaurant, we utilize math concepts.

In order to compete in a global marketplace increasingly driven by innovation and technology, it is crucial that our workforce is highly skilled with strong quantitative literacy.  We must therefore advocate for excellence in math programs for children in pre-K through the middle grades to provide a basic foundation for more advanced math skills in high school and college. There is an important role for research to play in providing evidence for what is effective and not so effective in mathematics education and for children with different learning needs.

Q.  How does American children’s achievement in math compare with children in other countries?

A. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) measures math and science knowledge and skills over time across several countries. In the 2007 version of the TIMSS, fourth and eighth grade American students performed at a higher than average level across all countries.  While this is good news, students from some countries, particularly those in Asia, and also some in Europe, performed significantly above the level achieved by children in the U.S.  What has been more of a concern than absolute rankings is what this level of performance actually means.  Access to advanced studies and careers in science and technology require math skills that are at advanced levels.  In this respect, only six percent of U.S. eighth graders met or surpassed this level, in contrast to over 40% of eighth graders in Singapore.

So one might ask: what is it that differs across countries that do very well and less well on these assessments? There are many contributing factors.  Some of these are likely curriculum- and instruction-based. For example, disadvantaged children in the U.S. and in countries such as Japan, start preschool with a knowledge gap in math compared to their middle-class peers.  The instruction in countries like China and Japan over the preschool year serves to narrow this gap, but it actually widens in some parts of the U.S. One difference between mathematics instruction in many North American schools compared to instruction in Asian countries is an emphasis on “teaching to mastery”. This involves ensuring that children truly understand both the concepts and procedures involved in what they are learning in math before moving on to more complex aspects of math. They are then able to build on what has been learned before.  This approach is not to be equated with mindless repetition sometimes referred to as “drill and kill”. Successful curricula and teaching approaches in the U.S. and in Asian countries seem to explicitly teach new concepts using a variety of methods across a variety of contexts and in a logical sequence.  The new skills are then also practiced across a number of contexts.  What do I mean by this? Learning a concept such as x + 1 might involve learning this concept using a number line, solving several x+1 problems orally or in written form, solving word problems that involve x+1 concepts, comparing x+1 to x-1 problems, and so forth.

It is also interesting that in countries that do well on these tests, math is culturally a very important skill and there is a sense that it is acquired through instruction and effort.  This is not to imply that math is not considered important here too, but we seem to have the attitude that math is more of an ability or aptitude rather than something that is learned through expert instruction and practice. How often do you hear someone say “I’m not very good at math, never have been. Just don’t seem to have the aptitude for it.”  Now substitute “reading” in that statement for “math” and it sounds rather odd.

Q. Where do you see discrepancies in children’s mathematical abilities and understanding in the U.S.?

A.  There are definite links between poverty and math achievement which are evident in the gaps in achievement between disadvantaged children and children from higher income families. According to the National Association for Education Progress (NAEP), fourth grade students who were eligible for free lunch, scored 24 points lower on national math tests than those who were not eligible. In the eighth grade, this discrepancy was 28 points. Importantly, many children were not performing at even the most basic level of math proficiency. Given the importance of quantitative literacy for many of the jobs in our society, this situation is disconcerting.  In addition, these young people will probably have difficulties with many life skills that require basic math. But we know it does not have to be this way. Earlier, we discussed how high quality early math education may work to “level the playing field”. Several studies have been done in the U.S. that show the narrowing of these gaps with certain types of math instruction beyond the preschool period.

Q. It seems that there are a lot of teachers who want to be reading specialists. How do we help teachers develop into math specialists?

A. Teachers’ attitudes make a world of difference to any academic subject, but mathematics has been noted as one where teacher’s attitudes are particularly important. Many teachers of young children do not have confidence in their own quantitative abilities, so part of the challenge is convincing these teachers that they can teach math concepts to young children. They also need to understand and believe that teaching and learning mathematics are not onerous activities.

However, I don’t want to leave the impression that it’s just a matter of attitudes – that if we could just change attitudes all else would fall into place. High quality math instruction requires high quality professional development for teachers both at the pre-service and in-service levels.  Some researchers in mathematics education talk about this as “learning mathematics for teaching.”

Q. How can we teach our children to both understand and develop better math skills?

A. Did you know that even babies seem to have some abilities that we might think of as being quantitative in nature?  For example, very young babies can perceive the differences between two and three objects as do non-human animals. In some studies, five month olds seem to have an appreciation that when you add an object to a small set of objects it should get bigger and when you take away an object the remaining set should be smaller.

There are a lot of everyday activities that are mathematical in nature and some of these skills appear to be present quite early in life.   Our challenge is to understand how to build on these early math skills with planned and deliberate instruction.  If we can determine ways to expose children to appropriate mathematical experiences and instruction from a very early age, this may lead to individuals who are not later intimidated by math and in fact, can readily use mathematics to solve problems both academically and in their everyday lives. We are currently looking at how we might be able to accomplish this beginning in the preschool years. We are also interested in finding ways to close achievement gaps for children with learning difficulties in math.  My hope is that we can continue to discover new ways to bridge these gaps in mathematics to help children have more academic success and more career options after graduation.