Andrew Davis, CEI Intern and Christine Mason, CEI Executive Director

Math Performance in the US Falls Behind Many Other Countries

While math skills are essential, many people in the U.S. don’t have adequate math skills and abilities. An estimated one-fifth of adults in the U.S. have numeracy skills below what is needed for everyday situations (Department for Education and Skills, 2003), and less than 50% of our children perform above the proficient level in math (U.S. Department of Education, 2016).
Math: Complex, Multi-dimensional Operations
What else can be done to boost math scores? Perhaps something can be gained by turning to neuroscience and considering how to improve a student’s attention, focus, and memory skills. Executive Functioning (EF) refers to a family of cognitive processes that help individuals plan, organize, focus, problem solve, and complete tasks. ‘Executive functions (EFs) make possible mentally playing with ideas; taking the time to think before acting; meeting novel, unanticipated challenges; resisting temptations; and staying focused,’ (Diamond, 2013, p.155). These EF skills involve switching, working memory, and inhibition. They support our ability to shift our focus from one task or stimulus to another (shifting); apply what we remember about the most relevant information (working memory); and stop distracting or automatic thoughts in order to continue to focus on a specific task (inhibition) (see Davis, 2017). These three components of EF support our math capabilities. With math, students must constantly process input, holding information in one’s working memory, and then applying previously learned information in a specific sequence.
EF skills are critical throughout mathematical equations, from the start to the end. Math can be thought of as a second language, where the ‘words are mostly used to translate visuospatial and quantitative concepts into a set of symbols that can be more easily manipulated’ (McCloskey, 2013). Math may involve linguistic (using words), numerative (using symbols and numbers), and visuospatial (pictures, diagrams, etc.) dimensions as the students work through problems. As student’s problem solve they consider the relationships between numbers or calculation syntax in specific situations. These are all skills that challenge one’s EF. (See Figure 1).

Figure 1. An Integrative Model Specifying Processes, Abilities, Lexicons, Skills, Memory, and EF for Mental Math Problem-Solving Taken from: McCloskey, G. (2013). Executive Functions and Mathematics: A Neuropsychological Perspective
Figure 1 primarily demonstrates how working memory is used in math:
How Teachers can Enhance Executive Functioning to Improve Math Skills
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