The last time I was in Bangalore, India, a young boy, of about 7, was selling incense sticks on the street. He came running up to me, and asked if I’d like to buy a packet or two. He said, in the local language, Kannada, “Sister, 1 box for 10 rupees, or 2 for 15 rupees.” I didn’t really need the incense sticks, but felt sorry for the boy who was running behind people eager to make a sale. I told him I’d take two boxes, and gave him 20 rupees. Without any hesitation, the boy promptly gave me back 5 rupees. I wasn’t surprised. Although this boy did not go to school, he had an innate understanding of basic mathematics.
Mathematics knowledge is inborn…
Researchers have shown that infants have a natural number sense. Dr. Keith Devlin [1] has shown that babies, just two days old, can perform basic arithmetic.
…However, researchers have also shown that children cannot intuitively learn advanced mathematical skills, such as working with large numbers, multiplication, division, or fractions.
Therefore, without a mathematics education, children are limited to manipulating small numbers. Dr. David. A. Sousa, an international consultant in educational neuroscience, illustrates this concept well in his research. Dr. Sousa says that our “speed and accuracy” to perform calculations decreases as a number gets larger. For instance, we are better able to calculate the difference between 20 and 10 than we are able to calculate the difference between 90 and 80.
Point where the human brain is unable to quickly perform calculations.
With mathematics teaching, however, children can overcome this challenge, and further develop important mathematics skills.
Having a strong foundation in mathematics has several impacts. For instance, children taught basic mathematics:
- Become financially literate;
- Are smarter shoppers or consumers;
- Better understand measurements, which can be helpful when taking medicines or when cooking for their families;
- Are able to continue onto secondary school, and possibly to higher education; and
- Are better equipped to participate in societies and economies becoming technologically advanced.
The boy I met on the streets of Bangalore, who may have been an orphan, without a family or home to go to at night, is like many other children around the world who live in poverty. For these children, going to school and getting quality education, including math, is sadly not a reality. The boy I met will not be able to build on his inherent understanding of mathematics. His numerical skills will remain basic, and then stagnate.
The 2011 Global Monitory Report reports that there are still 67 million children out of school, which means that 67 million children cannot build on their innate number sense.
One of GPE’s policy platforms is improving the quality of education children receive. Under this umbrella, quality mathematics education is a key investment. Investing early will help children, like the boy selling incense in India, enroll in school, learn quality mathematics, and be numerically literate in society.