Mathematics is the strong point of many schoolchildren and the weak point of many others. Today we know how important a role the brain plays in mathematical thinking. This can help us understand the difficulties that many boys and girls have in this area.
Brain development is not identical in all the areas that make it up, and we can find areas that mature earlier than others. Therefore, educational actions must take into account the different sensory areas that allow us to acquire knowledge.
In tune with this thinking, which requires different modes of information input, are new learning theories, such as that of Gadner's multiple intelligences. This theory proposes different areas in which to present the information, facilitating learning by not being summarized to the traditional linguistic and visual ones.
The left parietal lobe plays a key role in arithmetic. Thus, people with dyscalculia have alterations in this area of ​​the brain. The dyscalculia It is suffered by people who cannot recognize arithmetic digits and signs, showing great difficulties in performing elementary calculations, such as addition and subtraction.
People who have difficulties in arithmetic often have problems in 3 other domains:
- Spatial Orientation
- Control your own actions (under self-control)
- Representation of your body (especially from the fingers)
These areas of control and personal knowledge are closely related, thanks to the multimodal conception of thinking. Thus, when children begin to learn to count, they use the 3 previous domains. First they touch the elements to recognize the number of them, then they are able to use their own fingers to number the elements, and all this requires great control over their actions.
There is a close relationship between the numerical representation that we form in our brain and the mental representation that we make of these numerical elements through our fingers. Thus, If there is a misrepresentation of the fingers, it will be difficult for an adequate numerical representation to form, with negative effects on the subsequent development of logical-mathematical and numerical thinking.
In spite of the great mathematical burden falling on the left hemisphere, it is undoubtedly the right hemisphere also plays an important role, since it is the in charge of comparisons and approximation between numbers. Thus, when we have to solve a mathematical problem, both hemispheres start sending information to each other to reach the appropriate solution.
Despite it seems that mathematical thinking is something exclusive to higher species such as human beings, we find that birds and certain chimpanzees have a simple mathematical system that allows them to distinguish small numbers and do very elementary addition and subtraction. This biological baggage accompanies us from birth, allowing babies to have a limited but effective capacity to cope with simple mathematical aspects. We will all start from this simple mathematical system until we develop complex arithmetic and logical thoughts.
Understanding the connection between mathematics and spatiality is of vital importance, since the body plays a very relevant role in learning mathematical operations and calculations. The greater the domain and body awareness, the greater the mathematical ability. This neuroscientific knowledge has already been postulated by educational authors such as MarÃa Montessori, developing a large number of materials for mathematical learning through different sensory modalities, especially involving the use of the fingers in their didactic teaching.
If our son presents great difficulties in learning mathematics, it is advisable to use strategies that cover the other domains involved in his learning. In this way we will be helping your developing brain to alleviate alterations or poor maturation in areas still in the process of expansion. Through playful learning, focused on potentialities, we can motivate the little ones, before the aversion to mathematics appears, so feared by many families. Mathematics can be fun if we use different routes to its learning.