Ever wonder why sometimes, your student just isn’t having it with math? Why no matter what you try, they just seem to fight the work, to fall apart at any challenge, and can’t seem to get ahead in their lessons?
It’s nothing new. I have seen it many, many times in my work as an educator. The fancy term for it is “Cognitive Overload.” The rest of us may call it “Brain Fry,” “Brain Drain,” or “Mental Fatigue.” It’s when you just can’t do any more computing, thinking, or answer-finding–and many times, it’s the reason for math tears.
Why do so many kids struggle with Brain Drain when the math books come out? My answer is, almost universally: it’s because they don’t truly know their math facts. They can’t even get into the complex stuff because they are stuck on computing facts that they were to have memorized already.
