Reply To: Discussion – “The Talent Code”

Math ability pre-destined: Study

Calgary Sun WENN.COM Friday, August 12, 2011

New research suggests that children who struggle with mathematics will always have problems with numbers.

Previous research has indicated that "number sense" is basic to humans but psychologists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have found a different explanation after an intensive study involving 200 four-year-olds.

The youngsters had to sit various tests and the results were compared to their language skills. Dr. Melissa Libertus, who led the study, says, "Previous studies testing older children left open the possibility that maths lessons determined number sense. In other words, some children looked like they had better number sense simply because they had better maths instruction.

"Unlike those studies, this one shows that the link between number sense and maths ability is already present before the beginning of formal maths instruction. One of the most important questions is whether we can train a child’s number sense to improving his future maths ability."
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Not much published here about the study… would be interested to fond out more. However… In other words, some children looked like they had better number sense simply because they had better maths instruction." – So maybe coaching that inspires one to work harder / stick with math problems longer (ala Carol Dweck's findings) might be key to anything? IE: Find someone who supports your endevour and then sparks your passion… have a great coach who continues to inspire / challenge you?