A recent University of Pittsburgh study shows that parents who excel at math tend to have children who excel at math. The study found that an intuitive sense of numbers is often passed down from parent to child, and that parents’ math tests are a good predictor of how their children will perform on a similar test.
Stop being anxious when it comes to numbers! Your math anxiety is your child’s math anxiety.
Is being good at math an inheritable trait?
This study is the first to find an intergenerational transfer of math skills, both in test performance and number intuition–for example, guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar. However, the researchers are not certain if these math skills transfer through genetics or through an in-home learning environment. Future studies will examine exactly how this transfer occurs.
Our findings suggest an intuitive sense for numbers has been passed down — knowingly or unknowingly — from parent to child. Meaning, essentially, the math skills of parents tend to ‘rub off’ on their children.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Key takeaways
- The University of Pittsburgh released a study in early September about heredity and math ability.
- According to the study, student who had parents that had superior math skills also possessed superior math skills themselves.
- The study attributed this transfer of skills to parenting influence.
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