U.S. students are being taught to memorize math formulas, instead of understanding them, which has led to confusion about what the equal sign means, a new study says.
Researchers at Texas A&M University say about 70% of students in Grade 6 in the U.S. "exhibit misconceptions" about the equal sign, while "nearly none of the international students in Korea and China" have this problem.
Co-author of the study, Robert Capraro, gives an example of the math equation: 4+3+2=( )+2.
"Students who have learned to memorize symbols and who have a limited understanding of the equal sign will tend to solve problems such as 4+3+2=( )+2 by adding the numbers on the left, and placing it in the parentheses, then add those terms and create another equal sign with the new answer," he said in a press release. "So the work would look like 4+3+2=(9)+2=11."
However, the correct answer "makes both sides equal. So the understanding should be 4+3+2=(7)+2. Now both sides of the equal sign equal 9."
The reason why children in the U.S. might not understand the equal sign could be due to textbooks. Researchers examined textbooks from the U.S. and China.
"Chinese textbooks provided the best examples for students and that even the best U.S. textbooks, those sponsored by the National Science Foundation, were lacking relational examples about the equal sign," the study said.
The study compiled information from ongoing research at A&M, which has included more than 600 students. The students were tested in their own countries, and then the information was shared with the Texas researchers.
The overall study is looking at why student performance drops off in high school, even though the same students seem to perform well in elementary and middle school, Capraro told QMI Agency.
"Even though we know that the math slide begins in middle school the so far best explanation is adolescence for the middle grades problems. We believe there is a systemic issue that spans the elementary misunderstanding of the equal sign into high school. We are trying to lay a foundation to justify a broad investigation of the issues in high school performance," he said.
