Mathnasium attempts tough equation — making math fun

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Mathnasium of Salmon Creek center director Autumn Smith knows the feeling students get when they are stuck on a math problem.

She taught pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Vancouver for 12 years and saw that many of her students were lacking the fundamental skills necessary to solve math problems. Mostly fractions and multiplication tables.

“If you are coming into my class as a seventh or an eighth grader and you don’t know your multiplication tables or fractions, doing algebra is really difficult when everything that I’m teaching takes five or six more thought processes for a student to really understand,” Smith said. “There’s so many reasons why kids get behind in any subject, but math is one of those that just builds so much on what happened before. If you don’t have those things, then you’re just lost in class.”

This is where Mathnasium comes in. Parents drop their children off at the center for an hour and the instructors teach math in a way that makes sense to each student. Smith said there are more than 900 Mathnasiums worldwide. Hers is the first one to open in Clark County.

“We assess so we can find that point where they understand and don’t understand so we can build an individualized learning program for each student,” Smith said. “We send out messages to teachers to make sure they know that their student is working with us so we can bridge that gap between school and here to make sure that what I’m teaching and what my instructors are teaching is going to blend with what they’re learning at school.”

Parents can try out Mathnasium for free for the first week. If it’s a good fit for their child, they can get started on a paid membership. Prices will vary based on the number of sessions.

Evan Christian, a sixth-grader at Thomas Jefferson Middle School has been coming to Mathnasium for about a month.

“I look forward to coming here and learning math,” he said. “It’s helpful because you understand it a lot more. You feel good.”



Instructor Phong Hoang is a senior at Washington State University Vancouver. He enjoys helping students build confidence in their math solving skills.

“Every single time that a student comes in, I want them to learn something, of course, but I want them to walk out with some confidence in that subject. Whatever they’re learning, whatever it is,” he said.

“Sometimes, it just clicks to them. Maybe it is my help at first, but once they get it, they just zoom through all the work,” Hoang added. “It’s not really me; it’s them. I’m glad that they got it. I’m just there to give them a little hint.”

The challenge with math is not only getting the right answer but also showing each step it takes to get there. Technology today is making that easier. Smith encourages her students to use the Photomath application, which not only solves the problem but also shows all the work.

“If you can see the answer, if you can see the steps and practice it the correct way, then you’re learning more than if you tried to do the problem and you did it the wrong way,” she said. “Doing 20 problems the exact same way, but incorrectly, that is driven into your brain as the way to do it. And so when you get to class the next day and the teacher is helping you correct that mistake, your brain is going ‘No. That’s not how we learned it.’ That’s foreign now.”

That’s when frustration and low self-esteem creeps in. Students see a D or F on the top of their paper and it makes them feel like a failure.

“When you’re struggling so hard with something and you have so much pressure to do well at it and not the tools to do it with, then you just keep on beating yourself up until there’s no self-esteem left in that area,” Smith said. “So that’s part of what we try to do here is build the confidence of the students so that they want to go into their classroom and show that they know it. Being able to be one of those people who share it builds that confidence which builds the enthusiasm which builds a love, and then you get knowledge and deeper knowledge.”

{{tncms-inline content="<p class="p1">Mathnasium of Salmon Creek</p> <p class="p1">Address: 1218 NE 88th Street in Vancouver</p> <p class="p1">Phone number: (360) 553-1737 <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p1">Website: salmoncreek@mathnasium.com</p> <p class="p1">Business hours: Open 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday</p>" id="f155f5ef-ae0a-4a64-af7c-49f181cc38d6" style-type="fact" title="If You Go" type="relcontent"}}