Research offers hope for struggling math students

According to Professor of Special Education Lynn Fuchs, Vanderbilt research to help struggling math students shows promise for those who go through appropriate intensive tutoring.

In collaboration with John Gore and the Institute of Imaging Science, students with math disabilities are having their brains scanned before and after this intense instruction.

"Fifteen weeks later when we bring the children back and they're doing the same tasks, after intense one-to-one instruction on these kinds of tasks, we see that the areas of activation are more similar to what we would expect in normally performing or developing children," Fuchs said.

As a researcher at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Fuchs thinks that practice is an important element alongside a structured kind of instruction with a tutor.

"Tutors can provide efficient, well-thought-out strategies to the conceptual basis of the math," she said.

As a result of such instruction, Fuch's research shows that students who previously struggled with math made significant improvements in both their brain activity and development of math skills.