Confluence of Declining Math Ability
Dear Friends and Students
Jan 17, 2012, the Times of India published an article “Reading, maths ability declining in kids: Survey”. The national figure for the proportion of children in standard V able to read standard II texts dropped from 53.7% (2010) to 48.2(2011). In the case of arithmetic, there are far more worrying signs. The proportion of standard III children who can solve a two-digit subtraction problem with borrowing dropped from 36.3% (2010) to 29.9% (2011)”. This was a decade-back story in India. I don’t have the latest data. I am sure post corona, numbers might have fallen to similar levels.
Now let us hear the story of the USA. In 2022, the National Centre for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a special administration of the NAEP long-term trend (LTT) reading and mathematics assessments for age 9 students to examine student achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Average scores for age 9 students in 2022 declined by 5 points in reading and 7 points in mathematics compared to 2020. This is the largest average score decline in reading since 1990, and the first-ever score decline in mathematics (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=38)
In Europe, looking at reading performance over a longer time span, performance did not significantly change in most countries between 2009 and 2018. The EU average performance in mathematics remained stable also over 2009-2018, although trends differ across Member States (education.ec.europa.eu/)
On the other side, the researchers found that “routine and frequent use of mobile devices appear to be associated with behavioral problems in childhood.” (Concordia University). This is also another reason for the performance drop. When someone is watching excessive video content, obviously the reading performance drops. The thinking ability or Math ability dips! This is a natural consequence. The question is not about particular performance during time and country. In general, there is no big positive story over time!
While we are talking about one extreme, the other extreme looks completely different. Now we are talking about AI as a Teacher. Harvard's New Computer Science Teacher Is a Chatbot!! True, I am not kidding! Starting this fall, the most prestigious Computer Science 50: Introduction to Computer Science (CS50) will be encouraged to use AI to help them debug code, give feedback on their designs, and answer individual questions about error messages and unfamiliar lines of code. The new approach will not use ChatGPT or GitHub Copilot, both of which are popular among programmers. Malan says the tools are "currently too helpful." Instead, Harvard has developed its own large language model, a "CS50 bot" that will be "similar in spirit," but will focus on "leading students toward an answer rather than handing it to them,” he says. I am sure this is going to be a future model across the world.
When a kid is having so many diversions and AI becomes a teacher for such kids, how do math and reading abilities impact? It is the million-dollar question. How do we see this convergence? How do we read these extreme situations across the world? How does it impact an underperformer and a superior performer? This is going to be an interesting research problem for social scientists.
Everybody has a solution but we are not able to implement it because we are also partly succumbed to these extremes. It is the responsibility of parents to handle their individual cases. That is the only feasible solution rather than suggesting large-scale systems and processes!
Parents, be mindful of your child's growth and ensure a balanced approach to technology to promote their well-being and development.
Ravi Saripalle
Note: Opinions expressed by authors are their own.
Pic credits: Pixabay
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
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