Category Archives: Research

When 1 + 1 = 5: Dyscalculia and Working Memory

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Jacob’s mother writes that ‘Jacob, 10-years-old, still struggles with number bonds to 10. Learning to tell the time is still slow – he has not mastered half-past. Although he managed to learn his 5x tables because we practiced all summer, this has now gone’.

Jacob has dyscalculia, a math disability where students struggle to learn or understand mathematics. Students with dyscalculia find it difficult to decipher math symbols (e.g. +, -), counting principles (‘two’ stands for 2), solving arithmetic problems, and usually transpose numbers (e.g. 75 becomes 57). However, dyscalculia encompasses more than problems with numbers – there is also a struggle with telling the time as in Jacob’s case, identifying left from right, and recognizing patterns.

But why do some students struggle to learn numbers and certain mathematical principles?

Working Memory plays a key role. To solve a mathematical problem like 1 + 1, we need to use our

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Bachelor project – Paper prototype

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Before making the actual product, it was decided to produce a video prototype which could be used to show an audience how the product should work in practice. The video prototype was brought along when the second part of the empirical data was gathered. This part consisted of a semi structured interview with two students from 8th grade.

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Brain furrow may cause maths problem

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Scientists have homed in on a brain region that leaves some people struggling with mathematics. Their research might point up better ways to teach numbers1.

The study looked at people with dyscalculia – the mathematical equivalent of dyslexia. Up to 6% of children are thought to suffer from the condition; they toil with times tables and can find it tough to add small numbers even as adults.

Dyscalculics have abnormal pulses of activity in a brain furrow called the right intraparietal sulcus, find Nicolas Molko of INSERM, the French Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, and his colleagues. The fissure helps the mind to conjure spatial images.

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Neuroanatomical correlates of developmental dyscalculia: combined evidence from morphometry and tractography.

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Poor mathematical abilities adversely affect academic and career opportunities. The neuroanatomical basis of developmental dyscalculia (DD), a specific learning deficit with prevalence rates exceeding 5%, is poorly understood. We used structural MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine macro- and micro-structural impairments in 7- to 9-year-old children with DD, compared to a group of typically developing (TD) children matched on age, gender, intelligence, reading abilities and working memory capacity. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) revealed reduced grey matter (GM) bilaterally in superior parietal lobule, intra-parietal sulcus, fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus and right anterior temporal cortex in children with DD. VBM analysis also showed reduced white matter (WM) volume in right temporal-parietal cortex. DTI revealed reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in this WM region, pointing to significant right hemisphere micro-structural impairments.

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