What’s the Secret of Math Success?

Japanese teachers and students are much more likely than their American counterparts to believe that the secret to doing well in math is working hard. Americans tend to think that you either have mathematical intelligence or you don’t (Stevenson, Chen, & Lee, 1993).

• The intelligence quotient, or IQ, represents how well a person has done on an intelligence test compared to other people.
• Alfred Binet designed the first widely used intelligence test to identify children who could benefit from remedial work.
• But in the United States, people: — assumed that intelligence tests revealed natural ability — used the tests to categorize people

• IQ tests have been criticized for being biased in favor of white, middle-class people.
• But efforts to construct tests that are free of cultural influence have been disappointing.
• Culture affects nearly everything to do with taking a test, from attitudes to problem-solving strategies.

• Intellectual achievement also depends on: — motivation — hard work, and — self-discipline
• Cross-cultural work shows that differences in academic performance are strongly influenced by: — beliefs about the origins of mental abilities — parental standards, and — attitudes toward education

There is a common belief that Asians are naturally gifted at maths.

Asian countries like Singapore and Japan lead the ranks in first and second position on maths performance in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tables – an international survey that ranks education systems worldwide – while Australia sits around 12th.

What is the secret to being good at maths? Are you simply born clever, or is it the result of a lot of hard work?

The answer is depends on the school education system.

From the age of 7 or 8, all Japanese children are taught the times table jingle kuku.

“Ku” is the Japanese word for “nine”, and the title reflects the final line of the jingle, which is simply “nine nine (is) eight-one”.

Children rote learn the jingle and are made to recite it with speed in class and at home.

In Australian, schools have recently been encouraged to throw away textbooks and old worksheets, teachers discouraged from teaching mathematical formula, and children warned against learning their times tables by rote.