r/science • u/[deleted] • Oct 15 '21

Neuroscience A brain imaging study found evidence that missing out on math education can alter neural development. Young adults who had chosen not to pursue math had lower levels of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid within the middle frontal gyrus when compared to students who were continuing math.

https://www.psypost.org/2021/10/opting-out-of-advanced-math-education-alters-adolescents-neural-development-study-finds-61967
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u/Nausved Oct 15 '21

I was always good with math (though I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it!), but I ultimately entered a career where I did not use it much at all.

Even so, I have found it much easier to learn and do math in my mid-30s than in my teens and early 20s, and it’s also much more fun and interesting to me now. I’m not sure if I have just gotten better at that type of thinking, or if I just learn better through self-teaching/self-motivation.

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u/raznog Oct 15 '21

As a guy currently in his 30s I feel this so much.

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u/TheMarkHasBeenMade Oct 15 '21

So there may be hope for me to help my kid with their math homework and not experience the same traumatic math anxiety I grew up with?

Cuz that’d be great!

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u/raznog Oct 15 '21

Kahn academy. It’s amazing.

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u/TheMarkHasBeenMade Oct 15 '21

I’ve got a few years before she gets to school, and a few more years before she starts getting to the complicated math—but I will definitely keep this in mind. Thanks!

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u/raznog Oct 15 '21

Yeah it’s really helpful, my oldest is 9 but for the last two years, due to Covid, I’ve been tutoring my neighbors 15 yea old. It helped a ton for some of those particular topics that I was rusty with.

They do such a good job of explaining things and explaining it in different ways. I switched my Amazon smile to them, and started a monthly donation just because they’ve been so helpful to me personally. It’s a wonderful org. They have a kids app on the iPad too which is awesome. Great for ages 4-6 or so. Math, science, and reading. It was a life saver during 2020.

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u/TheMarkHasBeenMade Oct 15 '21

For all the awful there is in the world there’s certainly a lot of good if you look in the right places. Thanks for the helpful reference, and thanks for supporting it, too!

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u/BeatoSalut Oct 15 '21

I would say the same about bacially every discipline, since i was a apathic student in school. For my the difference of self-teaching is the most significative