For many students, both today and in the past, learning math and science can be an intimidating endeavor. While subjects like history and literature are more story-based and not as dependent on the accumulation of prior knowledge, learning math and science is sequential and problems are either “right” or “wrong.” In addition, the need to hold a number of abstract symbols and rules in the mind all at once in order to complete a single problem can overload one’s working memory, leading to focus-clogging anxiety. The result is that many students today feel that they are not good at math and science, and cannot learn these subjects with a high degree of success.
In A Mind for Numbers, (TarcherPerigree 2014), along with later works like Mindshift (2017) and Uncommon Sense Teaching (2021), Dr. Barbara Oakley makes the case that learning math and science is possible when we align teaching and learning with how our brains actually work. In this brief article, I will share three key strategies from her book A Mind for Numbers.
- Shift Your Focus
- Chunk the Learning
- Retrieve, Not Reread
Let’s take each of these strategies in turn.
Shift Your Focus
First, when learning a new concept, it is important to shift between what scientists call the brain’s focused mode and diffuse mode. Focused-mode is just what it sounds like. When your mind is locked in (to use a phrase from my students) on the learning, it is in a highly attentive state using “rational, sequential, and analytical approaches” (12). Think of the direct, penetrating light of a flashlight. Conversely, diffuse-mode thinking is when your brain’s neural networks are in a resting state. Your attention is relaxed and your mind is allowed to wonder. In this mode, your mind is able to think about the big picture as the insights from focused-mode are diffused throughout different areas of your brain.
It is common to assume that when tackling math and science problems, you need to shift your mind to total focused-mode. But as Oakley explains, “Learning involves a complex flickering of neural processing among different areas of the brain, as well as back and forth between hemispheres” (13).
So if a student gets stuck on a particular homework problem or is feeling overwhelmed, it is important to shift into diffuse mode. This is not “giving up” on the problem, but rather giving the brain time to diffuse the learning, de-stress, and come back to it with a fresh perspective.
Some great ways to do this include going for a walk or jog, playing a sport, painting and drawing, and sleeping (the ultimate diffuser). Activities like talking with friends, playing video games, and going on a phone can provide some diffusion, but as you can imagine, it is all too easy to slip back into focused-mode when engaged in these activities.
Chunk Your Learning
Second, chunk your learning. Our brains are wired to connect information together through meaning. The key to learning math and science, then, is to “unite separate bits of information through meaning” (55).
A great example of chunking is getting dressed in the morning. There are a number of sub-tasks associated with this task that have all been chunked together overtime through repetition and the meaning associated with the big idea of “getting dressed.” The steps naturally fit together for the brain because meaning and emotion have become associated with it. It is sort of like the putting together of a puzzle. Taken in isolated parts, the puzzle pieces make no sense. But when the puzzle is put together, the pieces gain meaning, the type of meaning that can then be recalled more easily at a later time.
The key steps to chunking your learning in order to gain mastery of concept are focused attention, understanding the basic idea, and deliberate practice. This is one reason why narration is such a powerful teaching tool, even in math and science. When students are given the opportunity to explain a concept or demonstrate how to solve a math problem on the whiteboard, their brains are, in essence, telling a meaning-filled story as they connect disparate bits of information into a whole.
Retrieve, not Reread
This leads to the third strategy to really gain mastery in math and science: retrieve, not reread. One of the best ways to build the chunks that Oakley is talking about is to recall the main points of a concept without looking back at the notes or textbook. When you reread a page, it creates what is called the “illusion of competence.” The ideas feel fresh in one’s mind, but really they are just floating there, untethered to actual memory.
But through deliberate practice and doing the work of recalling from memory, the chunks build in your mind, and your brain is able to file it away for later use. We have written substantially about the power of retrieval practice in a number of articles here at Educational Renaissance.
There is much more that can be said about each of these strategies for excelling in math and science. The reality is that while it is true each student is created with unique capacities and interests, all students can learn math and science. The key is to cultivate classroom cultures around genuine curiosity, developing a growth mindset, and giving students meaningful opportunities to interact with the knowledge of the universe God created for us to enjoy and discover.
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