Finally, MRI research techniques for learning get applied to math

But, we have to go to an overseas newspaper to learn about it!

It's no surprise – Many parents already instinctively know it: students need to drill and practice to develop skill in math. But, what is new is that science is now backing that hunch up.

In “Now it all adds up! Scientists take a peek into the human brain and discover how children learn mathematics skills,” the online version of the London Daily Mail reports:

“Research carried out on elementary school-age children has revealed that drilling children on simple addition and multiplication may pay off.”

In fact, researchers using sophisticated functional MRI machines to look at actual human brain activity say:

"So learning your addition and multiplication tables and having them in rote memory helps."

So much for those old ideas from the early days of KERA when educators confidently told us that “drill kills” learning. Bluntly put, those unscientific educators didn’t have a clue.

But, are things getting better?

Supposedly, the implementation of Common Core State Standards is bringing an end to some of those failed ideas from the early days of KERA, but I am not so sure. There is a lot of online discussion about math programs that at least used to be heavy on the “drill kills” theory that are still floating around in schools today. Some of those programs are pretty lean on math practice in the early grades, something the new fMRI research says can lead to real problems as students move on to more demanding math lessons.

In fact, while Common Core does require some math skills to be mastered, the new fMRI research may indicate that the new standards do not call for mastery of those skills soon enough. It’s something thoughtful educators need to carefully reassess.

By the way, the fMRI research approach has been used for years to show that a rigorous instructional program in reading leads to changes in brain activity. Functional MRI research shows that brain activity in strong readers is quite different from brain action in readers who are dyslexic. However, give the dyslexic student a good course in reading, and they start using the "strong reader" areas of their brains, too.

For example, this 2006 paper from Sally and Bennett Shaywitz found that:

"The brain systems for reading are malleable and their disruption in children with dyslexia may be remediated by provision of an evidence-based, effective reading intervention."

In a separate interview, Dr. Sally Shaywitz reported on April 28, 2004 that dyslexics break down into several different groups. She explained:

"...one type, which would represent about a third of the total group of poor readers, who had their reading problems on an inherent basis. The other, which would represent two-thirds of the poor readers, seemed to have the systems for reading intact, but they'd never been properly activated. So these were shown primarily as environmental influences, perhaps from growing up in more disadvantaged circumstances and from not having received the kinds of reading instruction that would properly activate these systems."

In other words, a large proportion of these poor readers – about two-thirds of them – were failed because they didn’t receive the kinds of support, including good reading instruction, needed to develop the strong-reader systems in their brains.

The fMRI research provides a great example of how real research matters – if we want to truly improve education.

It is also notable that, as Arthur Levine, former president of Columbia Teachers College, repeatedly points out, education research is generally in very poor shape. He writes in Educating Researchers about many problems with the conduct of education research in education schools, concluding on Page 63:

“The result is research training programs staffed by faculty who are not very productive scholars and who lack the experience and expertise to impart to students the skills and knowledge required of productive scholars. These programs lack high, clear and agreed-upon standards for judging the quality of education research.”

So, Levine says the "right stuff" isn't coming from education schools.

So, much for the trustworthiness of a great deal of education research – perhaps including research behind the Common Core.

And, why do I have to go to an overseas newspaper to learn about American research from Stanford?(Added Note 4 Hours Later)It looks like ABC News finally caught on to the story.