Young Finns show weak skills in mental arithmetic

Helsingin Sanomat tested both young people and adults

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“Nooo, I can’t”, said Milla Lalu in exasperation.
      Helsingin Sanomat had just asked the young woman who was shopping at the Kamppi Center to take a test on mental arithmetic. The first question was “what is seven times eight?”.
      “Five times eight is 40, and if you just add 14 to that...”, Lalu ponders.
      She answers - incorrectly as it happens - “It's 54".
      “Hey, I’m a teacher. This is so embarrassing!” Lalu says, and laughs.
     
On Thursday Helsingin Sanomat tested the arithmentic skills of five young people and five adults chosen at random from among passers-by at the Kamppi Center complex.
      None of the ten respondents got all four exercises correct. Two were confused by the easiest multiplication tasks. Only two out of the ten mastered percentages and the addition of fractions.
      The inspiration for this unscientific pop quiz came from a doctoral thesis by Liisa Näveri, which is being reviewed on Friday.
      In her study, Näveri compared material that she had gathered from comprehensive school ninth-graders with material collected early this decade. A total of 700 pupils were involved. The study is in the field of applied education.
     
In her study Näveri wanted to determine how factors such as the preponderance of calculators have affected the mental arithmetic skills of pupils.
      Näveri says that her study shows that young people today do not comprehend what they have learned in mathematics as well as the previous generation did.
      “The early 1980s was the last possible moment to tackle this matter”, says Näveri, who has worked as a teacher since the 1970s.
      She concludes on the basis of her study that young people today do not understand what they have been taught in mathematics as well as they did before.
      “They are able to calculate the same kinds of equations according to a model, but they are not able to apply what they have been taught as well as before.”
     
Mathematical skills have declined especially with fractions. In the 1980s two out of three did well with basic calculations involving fractions. Now only one in three mastered them.
      The researcher believes that the harm will be reflected in the future in the fact that many need coaching in order to deal with further studies requiring mathematical skill. In everyday situations, ordinary percentages pose problems for many.
      “We think that a 50 per cent discount is half of the price. A pupil today might ask what the formula is for calculating this.”
     
International PISA studies indicate that Finnish young people have distinguished themselves in good mathematical skills. Näveri is not surprised by this, because in the PISA tests, the pupils are allowed to use calculators, just as they do at school.
      “We have such smart young people that they learn what they are taught”, she says.
      Häveri feels that there is room for improvement specifically in the comprehensive school curriculum. In the 1980s, a number of basic skills, such as calculating with fractions, was removed from the curriculum.
      She also feels that putting an effort into basic calculations at an early stage would make it easier to teach complicated mathematics later on.
      “It could also save resources.”
     
The next to be tested at the Kamppi Center is 15-year-old Tuomas Eloholma.
      The youngster answers the first two questions easily. He also deduces the one involving percentages correctly, but out of carelessness, he answers a question that was not actually asked in the test.
      When the bonus question was answered correctly, he gets enough points to share first place with another person.
      In this test, at least, the young people did better than their elders.
     
How do you fare?
      7 x 8 = X
      1/2 + 2/3 = X
      A pair of trousers costing EUR 30 is priced at a 30% discount. How much do they cost?
      3/X = 6/8 What is X?
      The scores achieved varied from 0 out of 8 to 6 out of 8. Nobody got all questions right. The first question merited one point, questions 2 and 3 two points each, and the final question 3 points.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland breaks point record in PISA study (5.12.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat