Mathnasium (also Mathnasium Learning Center) is an American education brand and supplemental math learning franchise consisting of over 1,000 learning centers in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia that provides instruction to students in pre-kindergarten through high school. [1] The curriculum employs the Mathnasium Method, a proprietary system that was developed by a team of education experts with co-founder Lawrence Martinek. [2]
Martinek, a Los Angeles-based mathematics educator, began writing his own supplemental materials to school curricula. In 1985, Martinek published Math Tips for Parents, a guide for parents and teachers based on his own experiences and his work with his son. [3] He argues that a student's dislike of math stems from the frustration and embarrassment of not understanding math the way it is taught, and that students build confidence and mastery in mathematics through successful encounter and interaction with carefully selected materials. He emphasized that an approach combining oral, visual, mental, tactile and written modalities helps children to develop number sense.
Mathnasium was founded in 2002 by Larry Martinek, David Ullendorff, and Peter Markovitz. The first center opened in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, and continues to be one of a small number of centers owned by Mathnasium, LLC. The company began franchising in 2003. In 2019, the company has more than 1,000 centers on five continents. In 2019, the franchise expanded to Australia. [4]
The Mathnasium approach first revolves around an assessment to determine what a student does and does not know. Next, a personalized and prescriptive learning program is made. Each student follows the program with the help of specially trained Mathnasium math instructors who provide instruction and encouragement. [5] For proof of progress, Mathnasium relies on its assessments, as well as students' report cards, independent tests, and parent testimony to measure the speed and magnitude of improvement in math skills, numerical thinking, and attitude. Mathnasium separates levels of instruction into early education, elementary school, middle school, and high school. Students advance to a new level of study when they demonstrate mastery of the subject through completing mastery checks, where students have to answer a worksheet of problems correctly without help from instructors. Instructors work face-to-face with each student, and the ratio of instructors to students is typically up to 1:4. Students are encouraged to bring in homework and get help on it as well. To encourage students, work they complete counts towards prizes, and they also can have chances to be entered into drawings for bigger prizes, such as gift cards. Instructors also grade student work and make sure that each worksheet is correct, which reinforces the Mathnasium Method™ of focusing on getting the process correct.
In 2011, Mathnasium hosted a national TriMathlon, a math competition held at 160 participating Mathnasium locations. [6] Over 4000 students competed in three challenges: The Counting Game, Magic Squares, and the Mental Math Workout. Along with medals and prizes for local 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners, each participant received a certificate for achievement for their involvement. [7] National TriMathlon winners were selected from the top three scores in each grade level from all participating Mathnasium locations. The 12 national winners received honors and more than $10,000 in cash prizes.
In 2019, Forbes ranked Mathnasium #2 in its Best Franchises to Buy, low investment category. Entrepreneur ranked Mathnasium #17 on its Best Franchises To Buy between $100,000 and $500,000, and #27 on its Fasting Growing Franchises list. Mathnasium was also ranked #1 on the Franchise Gator Top 100 List.
Earlier rankings: In 2012, Entrepreneur ranked Mathnasium #112 in the Franchise 500; in 2011, Mathnasium was ranked #138; in 2010, #176; in 2009, #173; and in 2008, #197. In 2012, Entrepreneur ranked Mathnasium #44 in their list of the Fastest-Growing franchises; in 2011, Mathnasium was ranked #79; and in 2010, #77. In 2012, Entrepreneur ranked Mathnasium #94 in America's Top Global franchises; in 2011, Mathnasium ranked #114; in 2010, #138; in 2009, #135; in 2008, #98; and in 2017, #170. [8]
Tutoring is private academic support, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects.
Toru Kumon was a Japanese mathematics educator, born in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the College of Science at Osaka University with a degree in mathematics and taught high school mathematics in his home town of Osaka. In 1954, his son, Takeshi, performed poorly in a Year 2 mathematics test. Prompted by his wife, Teiko, Toru closely examined Takeshi's textbooks and believed they lacked the proper opportunity for a child to practice and master a topic. As a result, he began to handwrite worksheets each day for his son. By the time Takeshi was in Year 6, he was able to solve differential and integral calculus usually seen in the final years of high school. This was the beginning of the Kumon Method of Learning.
A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of the course of instruction or "learning trajectory" for a lesson. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class learning. Details will vary depending on the preference of the teacher, subject being covered, and the needs of the students. There may be requirements mandated by the school system regarding the plan. A lesson plan is the teacher's guide for running a particular lesson, and it includes the goal, how the goal will be reached and a way of measuring how well the goal was reached.
Mastery learning is an instructional strategy and educational philosophy, first formally proposed by Benjamin Bloom in 1968. Mastery learning maintains that students must achieve a level of mastery in prerequisite knowledge before moving forward to learn subsequent information. If a student does not achieve mastery on the test, they are given additional support in learning and reviewing the information and then tested again. This cycle continues until the learner accomplishes mastery, and they may then move on to the next stage.
An intelligent tutoring system (ITS) is a computer system that aims to provide immediate and customized instruction or feedback to learners, usually without requiring intervention from a human teacher. ITSs have the common goal of enabling learning in a meaningful and effective manner by using a variety of computing technologies. There are many examples of ITSs being used in both formal education and professional settings in which they have demonstrated their capabilities and limitations. There is a close relationship between intelligent tutoring, cognitive learning theories and design; and there is ongoing research to improve the effectiveness of ITS. An ITS typically aims to replicate the demonstrated benefits of one-to-one, personalized tutoring, in contexts where students would otherwise have access to one-to-many instruction from a single teacher, or no teacher at all. ITSs are often designed with the goal of providing access to high quality education to each and every student.
A worksheet, in the word's original meaning, is a sheet of paper on which one performs work. They come in many forms, most commonly associated with children's school work assignments, tax forms, and accounting or other business environments. Software is increasingly taking over the paper-based worksheet.
Universitas Terbuka is Indonesia state university and employs open and distance learning (ODL) system to widen access to higher education to all Indonesian citizens, including those who live in remote islands throughout the country, as well as in various parts of the world. It has a total student body of 1,045,665 as of 2019/2020 according to Indonesia's Ministry of Education Higher Education database. According to a distance education institution in the UK, which published "The Top Ten Mega Universities", UT-3 ranks closely with universities from China and Turkey.
Kumon Institute Education Co. Ltd. is an educational network based in Japan, created by Toru Kumon which uses his Kumon Method to teach mathematics and reading primarily for young students.
Reform mathematics is an approach to mathematics education, particularly in North America. It is based on principles explained in 1989 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). The NCTM document Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (CESSM) set forth a vision for K–12 mathematics education in the United States and Canada. The CESSM recommendations were adopted by many local- and federal-level education agencies during the 1990s. In 2000, the NCTM revised its CESSM with the publication of Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (PSSM). Like those in the first publication, the updated recommendations became the basis for many states' mathematics standards, and the method in textbooks developed by many federally-funded projects. The CESSM de-emphasised manual arithmetic in favor of students developing their own conceptual thinking and problem solving. The PSSM presents a more balanced view, but still has the same emphases.
The jigsaw technique is a method of organizing classroom activity that makes students dependent on each other to succeed. It breaks classes into groups that each assemble a piece of an assignment and synthesize their work when finished. It was designed by social psychologist Elliot Aronson to help weaken racial cliques in forcibly integrated schools. A study by John Hattie found that the jigsaw method benefits students' learning.
Online tutoring is the process of tutoring in an online, virtual, or networked, environment, in which teachers and learners participate from separate physical locations. Aside from space, literature also states that participants can be separated by time.
Lincoln City Career Technical High School is a charter high school in Lincoln City, Oregon, United States. It was created as a charter school in 2000. It was recently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the second-best school in the district overall. It has a class size of 2–8, a student-teacher ratio of 5 to 1, and an academic faculty well versed in math, science, English, and social sciences.
Teach to One, previously known as School of One (SO1), is a middle school mathematics program of the New York City Department of Education. It began in 2009 and is currently operating in six schools in Manhattan, The Bronx, and Brooklyn. Its innovative program integrates the use of technology in the development and implementation of personalized curriculum and learning as well as the use of technology in the learning environment.
A flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning, which aims to increase student engagement and learning by having pupils complete readings at home and work on live problem-solving during class time. This pedagogical style moves activities, including those that may have traditionally been considered homework, into the classroom. With a flipped classroom, students watch online lectures, collaborate in online discussions, or carry out research at home, while actively engaging concepts in the classroom, with a mentor's guidance.
Link-Systems International, Inc. (LSI) is a privately held American distance-learning software corporation based in Tampa, Florida. The company is best known for NetTutor, its online tutoring service; WorldWideTestbank, its platform for authoring online content; and its WorldWideWhiteboard education-focused online collaboration platform.
Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) is a variation of peer-mediated instruction that has been used in elementary, middle school, and high school classrooms. In CWPT students form pairs and take turns in the roles of tutor and student. Students earn points for their teams by participating in the tutoring and the winning team is recognized. Researchers have investigated CWPT's effectiveness in several different academic areas.
Jon (Jonathan) Bergmann is a chemistry teacher and one of the developers of the "flipped classroom" model of teaching along with fellow chemistry teacher Aaron Sams. Although already noted for his teaching, Bergmann decided to "flip" what students did in his classes, watching video lectures at home and doing exercises (homework) in class under supervision. He and Sams not only found that grades went up, they also found time for other types of activities, which Bergmann states is more important than the videos. Bergmann has since become the lead technology facilitator for a school in Illinois, and has worked to promote the models speaking at schools, universities and more both in the United States and abroad. He currently teaches science at a high school in suburban Houston Texas.
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Mathletics is an online, educational website launched in 2005.