At first glance this seems to be another Chicken or the Egg situation. Are kids not understanding because Algebra is a subject that is difficult to teach or is Algebra difficult to teach because kids have so much trouble understanding it? In reality, there is some truth to both of these issues; and, theoretically, solving one will solve the other as well. So, exactly what is it that makes Algebra so unique?
Algebra is like a giant question mark in the brain of every freshman who walks into the classroom. These 14- and 15-year old students enter the classroom having absolutely no expectations of what they are going to be learning; and teaching Algebra successfully is one of the greatest educational challenges existing today.
Students in elementary school know just exactly what math was covered in each grade and what is coming next year. Addition, subtraction, multiplication,... They know. In high school, at the end of Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus, students can explain to you what the course was about. But Algebra is a different kind of animal. Too often Algebra teachers assume their students know what Algebra is, so Day One of school is Section One of Chapter One in the textbook and off they go on their unknown journey. Sadly, many students are as clueless at the end of the school year as they where at the beginning as to what they have been studying. Some students can tell you they solved(?) equations, they factored something, and they graphed things. Some students can actually be good at Algebra skills, but still have no idea why they were doing any of it. That's very sad.
The numerical skills required in Algebra (the HOW) are really pretty basic. It is the understanding of the WHY and WHEN that students don't get. But is this a student issue or a teacher issue?
Students issues to consider:
(1) knowledge of multiplication facts is the #1 indicator of success in Algebra, yet many students enter Algebra with weak multiplication skills,
(2) most students are lacking the ingrained sense of "I am smart enough" that they possessed when learning language,
(3) many students have lost the persistence they demonstrated when learning to walk, talk, and read,
(4) most students lack a pre-school math foundation similar to what parents provide for language skills,
(5) unlike all previous math courses in which only 25% of the material is new (never seen before), the amount of new material being covered in Algebra is approximately 75% of the course which seems to be too much for them to absorb,
(6) the pace required to cover so much new material seems too fast for students to absorb, and
(7) many Algebra students see no practical application to their lives, so they view it as unnecessary to learn. Have I missed any student issues? Probably, but you get the point.
Teacher issues to consider:
(1) the assumption that students already know what Algebra is is incorrect,
(2) teachers sometimes don't recognize that the problem is weak basic skills until the damage is done,
(3) the large amount of new material to be covered does not allow for proper processing but teachers do not have a choice about removing some of the subject matter,
(4) some teachers are weak at task analysis, (5) a few teachers have trouble explaining a topic several ways to deal with the different ways students learn, and
(6) No Child Left Behind has caused immeasurable harm to mathematics education and the learning environment. Again, you get my point even If I missed something.
In spite of all the issues I just listed, it should be noted that this "problem" has existed literally forever. The failure rate was 50% when I started teaching in 1972 and it still is. Many attempts have been made over the years to solve these issues. Nothing has been successful. So the answer to the initial question is: we don't know. If we knew, the issues would get solved.
Shirley Slick, "The Slick Tips Lady," is a retired high school math teacher and tutor with degrees in Mathematics and Psychology and additional training in brain-based learning/teaching. Her goals: (1) to help parents help their children with math, (2) to help eliminate the horrendous Algebra failure rate, and (3) to inform the general public about problematic issues related to the field of education. For your free copy of "10 Slick Tips for Improving Your Child's Study Habits," visit her website at http://myslicktips.com/
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