Driving the Devil out of Mathematics

Pure Mathematics is the poetry of logical ideas – Albert Einstein

For most of us, it is a horror to see a mathematics problem that we don’t know head or tail of. It is as if the equations and symbols have suddenly become alien and are intimidating. However, when taught in the proper manner, mathematics is a wonderful and awe inspiring subject that one gets drawn into.

Apart from a few students in a classroom, many feel that comprehending mathematics is difficult. We are all in a hurry to categorize these students and place in the bracket of students with learning disabilities. While this is going too far, irrespective of the sex, left/right handedness, geography or medium of education, it has been found in a recent survey that there is significant presence of learning disabilities.

Though there is prevalence of dyscalculia, most of the students who cannot fare well in the subject are not actually suffering from some kind of clinical condition that makes them permanently unfit for studying mathematics.

What is Dyscalculia?

Dyscalculia is the higher level of difficulty a person faces while comprehending numbers, manipulating them, and making calculations. Dyscalculia is a developmental disorder that affects children and persists over a period of time if they are not given corrective therapy.

Note: Dyscalculia can occur to people of all IQ levels and it can involve lack of spatial abilities.

Now, we come to a question that seems to bother many parents. “Is mathematics a subject that can be mastered by only a few gifted children?” This is totally untrue. Let us see how.

Mathematics expresses values that reflect the cosmos, including orderliness, balance, harmony, logic, and abstract beauty – Deepak Chopra.

Mathematics is a beautiful creation of man and has abstract realms that are not easy to comprehend.  In fact, most other subjects like physics, chemistry, computing, and others need a strong understanding of mathematics. This makes a student who fails in mathematics unfit for all these subjects.

The next question is as to why students fail to comprehend mathematics. One look into a mathematics classroom is enough to understand this. Teachers go about teaching this subject in a monotonous manner and the cheer fun of the pursuit is deprived.

Moreover, each student has a different way of learning. Some learn better only by visualization and some by the rote. There are some students who understand better with their auditory senses. This makes the job of a mathematics teacher so much more difficult.

While many schools, what with their tight schedules and a syllabus to complete, cannot disseminate information in a different way to each student, there is help available. There are numerous mathematics laboratories and workshops that enable the students to comprehend the complex theorems and concepts.

We at Nischal Learning Solutions specifically understand the learning deficits of students and have come up with innovative solutions for students to demystify mathematics and make it easy for students to understand it.

With our methodologies, mathematics is no longer an alien language with undecipherable symbols and equations. It becomes a subject that is highly fascinating and a sheer pleasure to learn.

We invite schools, parents and students to come and explore the multiple ways one can make mathematics more approachable.