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I believe everyone is capable of understanding mathematics. We all use mathematical logic and reasoning every day without realizing it. Some examples are:
- Knowing when to wake up and how long it takes to get ready in the morning in order to be at school or work on time,
- Knowing if you need to fill up your gas tank in order to get to your next destination without running out of gas,
- Figuring out how much money you need to buy any number of things at the supermarket or department store.
This list goes on an on.
So why do some of us think we're not good at math or even worse believe we're not capable of math? There's no single answer to this question. There are many reasons someone might think they are math inept. A person may have had one or more unpleasant experiences with any combination of parent, teacher, or friend, or may have had unpleasant situations in public.
Due to a wide array of circumstances a person may have developed a kind of "math anxiety" resulting in a catch-22; thinking I can't do math, so I don't do math and I don't do math because I can't do math. A person caught in this "math anxiety" condition many times gives up and says "my brain just isn't wired for math." Unfortunately many people have this "math anxiety" to one degree or another and their math self-confidence is very low.
This causes a problem - math is a requirement in all educational institutions. So these students are repeatedly confronted with the math requirement and their "math anxiety."
The problem these students experience isn't necessarily their own fault. These students aren't dumb or hopeless. The subject matter simply hasn't been presented to them in a way they can understand. That is where I can be of service.
Math, as in most subjects, builds on itself. But this building on itself is more profound in math than in most other subjects. As a person gains an understanding of mathematical concepts, they are building a foundation. More advanced and refined concepts are built on top of their existing foundation. If their existing foundation is weak or has holes, they are not ready to understand more advanced and refined concepts. If more and more principles and concepts are put on top of a weak foundation, the foundation can crack and/or collapse.
The dilemma in a classroom setting is that there is a certain amount of material the instructor is required to cover in a semester. This requirement forces the instructor to keep advancing through the material. The result is that sometimes students fall behind. The students who fall behind may find themselves in a difficult position; they don't have an adequate understanding of the current material and therefore are not prepared to understand the new material being presented to them. This scenario can perpetuate itself causing a kind of downward spiral resulting many times in the catch-22 condition, "math anxiety", and a lack of math self-confidence as described above.
This is nobody's fault and there is no one to blame. The dilemma is that instructors must cover a certain amount of material and students learn at different rates.
Math is kind of a strange animal to attack. Many times students will find themselves "banging their heads against a wall" trying to understand a difficult concept. They can and will struggle for hours even days on a particular topic. Then once they break through that wall, the concept is theirs forever - and they feel good about it.
As such student progress is directly proportional to the amount of time they study. How long it takes to attain understanding is always student dependant. This is where my services can be helpful. I can be a catalyst to a students understanding of the material they are studying. I can guide them through the material in a way they can understand. I ask the student leading questions to coax them into drawing their own appropriate and valid conclusions regarding the topics they are studying. This results in the student gaining understanding and building self-confidence in math. Soon they no longer have math anxiety, they have math confidence. And many times students become interested in math. Math becomes fun as they begin to excel.
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