Most Parents Say Math Knowledge Is Only at Sixth-Grade Level, Making Remote Learning Difficult
SWNS
Homeschooling is not so easy.
The average American parent’s science and math knowledge taps out around the sixth-grade level, according to new research.
When asked to estimate the grade they’d be placed in for both math and science if they took a test today, the average respondent to a survey of 2,000 American parents of school-aged children said sixth grade for each.
The survey also found 42 percent of parents said they would be “lost” trying to teach their child the math curriculum for their grade, SWNS reported. Thirty-five percent said the same about the science curriculum.
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Commissioned by Mongoose on behalf of the USA BMX Foundation, the survey tested parents’ STEM knowledge, as well as their plans for helping their children stay up-to-date with their STEM curricula in the event of a remote or hybrid school year.
More than half of parents (55 percent) found math difficult in school, and nearly four in 10 struggled with science.
That pattern appears to repeat itself in the next generation, as math (49 percent) and science (31 percent) were among the top subjects parents believed their child found most difficult to comprehend.
Fifty-eight percent of parents said their child has asked for their help with math, but given their reported levels of confidence when answering standard middle school math and science questions, parents might not be the best person to help out.
In fact, nearly four in 10 parents could not correctly identify what the acronym STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – stood for.
Their own lack of confidence in their knowledge of STEM subjects notwithstanding, 72 percent of respondents are afraid that remote schooling, or a hybrid of remote and in-person schooling, in the current school year might cause their child to fall behind on their STEM curriculum.
Sixty-two percent attributed their concern in this area to the fact that remote and hybrid learning offer fewer opportunities for hands-on learning, such as science lab instruction, that are crucial to learning these subjects.
And 64 percent said their concern stems from the fact that science and math can require extra one-on-one teacher attention, which they’re afraid won't be as available to their child during a remote or hybrid school year.
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Eight in 10 parents agreed hands-on learning and experimentation are integral to teaching children math and science skills.
And 76 percent said they believe their child benefits from hands-on learning activities in these and other areas.
