The Miami Herald – Katie Lepri
“At some point, many bright students seem to drift from math. A new study by Florida International University Professor Zahra Hazari suggests there are ways to keep them on track. What they need are confidence, clear explanations of concepts and — just as important — encouragement or interest. “We see a lot of kids who do well in math, but they don’t end up picking math-related careers,” said Hazari, who specializes in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Education at FIU’s College of Education and STEM Transformation Institute. If parents, friends or peers “see you as a math person, then you’re much more likely to see yourself as a math person and take that on as your identity.” For the study, Hazari and three colleagues interviewed 9,000 college calculus students who believed they were competent enough to perform well in their course. As for their main reason for studying the subject, more than 60 percent of the students admitted they either were acknowledged for their math skills or they found it fascinating.”(more)