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Conference rusure::math

Title:	Mathematics at DEC

Moderator:	RUSURE::EDP

Created:	Mon Feb 03 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	2083
Total number of notes:	14613

1441.0. "People who can't do math" by CIVAGE::LYNN (Lynn Yarbrough @WNP DTN 427-5663) Tue May 14 1991 12:22

It may be worthwhile to consider some poeple who *can't* do math. I have 
run across a couple of them recently.

I read recently of one lady who was entering college under a special 
dispensation. Intelligent and articulate, she scored very high on verbal 
SAT but near zero on math SAT. Although very well-read, she could not tell 
time or add a column of figures, and the simplest algebra word-problem
was a foreign language to her.

Close friends of mine adopted a boy 12 years ago. Two years old at the 
time, he appeared normal in every way and has been a delight to his 
parents, who are both teachers. As he entered adolescence he began to have 
problems in school, and only in the last year have his parents uncovered 
why he is overwhelmed by the simplest math problems. He cannot make change
or read a map; nor has he any real sense of cause and effect. The concept
of the consequences of sex - act now and bear a child nine nonths later -
is beyond his comprehension. 

In both cases the cause of the deficiency is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - the 
mother ingested lots of alcohol at critical times in the fetal development, 
and the babies were born with something missing that is essential to math 
skill development. It is peculiar that in most cases of this syndrome, so I 
am told, verbal skills remain normal but math skills are seriously 
impaired.

It's something to think about. I know I take my own skills all too lightly.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1441.1	speaking of cause and effect...	CSSE::NEILSEN	Wally Neilsen-Steinhardt	`Tue May 14 1991 13:55`	20
	.0>In both cases the cause of the deficiency is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - the >mother ingested lots of alcohol at critical times in the fetal development, This strikes me as an interesting hyopthesis which needs more confirmation than supplied here. How reliably can this condition be diagnosed? How many cases have been found? In how many cases could excessive fetal alcohol exposure be proved? What else did these cases have in common? How many instances of excessive fetal alcohol exposure occur every year? How many such exposures lead to the condition? Do the results above meet the usual tests for statistical significance of associations?
1441.2	More data	CIVAGE::LYNN	Lynn Yarbrough @WNP DTN 427-5663	`Wed May 15 1991 16:55`	44
	>This strikes me as an interesting hyopthesis which needs more confirmation >than supplied here. I contacted Dr. Mary Dufore of the NIH Drug & Alcohol dept. and posed these questions to her. >How reliably can this condition be diagnosed? Someone with experience can pick them out right away. There are distinctive physical characteristics in the face, etc. that can be easily seen. >How many cases have been found? About 2/1000 in the general population - about 10,000 new cases each year. Density varies with locale, cultural patterns. Numbers are hard to pin down because there are a lot of 80 IQ's who manage to survive in our society. >In how many cases could excessive fetal alcohol exposure be proved? In all cases in which the syndrome is positively confirmed, the mother admits to drinking at some time during pregnancy. >What else did these cases have in common? FAS'ers usually have short stature, crowded teeth, missing dimple between nose and upper lip, etc. Post-mortem examination of infants with FAS show that the brain is profoundly different from normal brains. >How many instances of excessive fetal alcohol exposure occur every year? Cases - About 10,000/year. Exposure? Somewhat higher. >How many such exposures lead to the condition? The fetus is affected by alcohol much more severely than the mother - it can't metabolize it - and brain damage can occur at ANY time during the pregnancy, especially during the couple of weeks before the pregnancy is apparent, when the fetal brain is already being developed. Fetuses develop much higher blood alcohol levels than their mothers. >Do the results above meet the usual tests for statistical significance of >associations? The doctors seem to think so.
1441.3		CLT::TRACE::GILBERT	Ownership Obligates	`Thu May 16 1991 10:33`	6
	> Numbers are hard to pin down > because there are a lot of 80 IQ's who manage to survive in our society. "Dr.Smith, could you give us a figure for the incidence of FAS?" "Uh, sorry, no. My IQ is only 80, and I just barely manage in our society."
1441.4	wrong occupation for this hazard	CIVAGE::LYNN	Lynn Yarbrough @WNP DTN 427-5663	`Tue Jun 11 1991 13:30`	1
	No, no - not doctors, politicians. :-)
1441.5	Worse than FAS?	AGOUTL::BELDIN	Pull us together, not apart	`Fri Jun 14 1991 17:27`	31
	FAS may cause congenital mathematical incompetence, but bad teaching causes mathephobia which is a great waste. Here in Puerto Rico, we have more exaggerated rates of mathephobia than in the states, and by considerable anecdotal evidence, I am convinced that destructive teaching is at the heart of it. 1) My wife can't do fractions. She explains it as due to two causes, a teacher who used the cane as his negative reinforcement for those who didn't get the right answer and being passed into the sixth grade from the fourth for reasons of verbal skills. Fifth grade was where fractions were taught. 2) I have had numerous students at the university who tell similar stories which convince me that my wife's situation was not unique. 3) No high school mathematics is required either for graduation from high school or entry into college here. Only after one enters the university, does s/he learn that pre-calculus is a graduation requirement of the college. 85% are flunking that course according to a former colleague, but the failure rate is only 10% among those who took high school math. 4) The Department of Education has no requirements for mathematical preparation of teachers who are assigned to teach math in elementary or secondary school. I have met teachers who suffer from mathephobia and are currently engaged in transmitting it to another generation. Disheartening, isn't it, Dick
1441.6	Pixie people	CIVAGE::LYNN	Lynn Yarbrough @WNP DTN 427-5663	`Mon Feb 10 1992 13:20`	8
	Discover Magazine, June '91 issue, has an article by Robert Finn titled "Different Minds". It focusses on people with Williams' ("Pixie-face") syndrome, a class of birth defects that, like FAS, produce people with normal-to-above average verbal skills and the inability to count. Williams' syndrome is superficially comparable to Downe's syndrome, but actually quite different, according to the author. People with this syndrome usually never enter society as independent individuals because of their inability to derive consequences from actions.