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Your child is working through their maths and starts getting questions wrong. Itโs natural to think that the work has become too difficult for them.
Wrong answers only tell us that a child may be struggling. But it doesnโt tell us why.
Take an example of three children who all get the same question wrong but for entirely different reasons. It may be genuinely difficult for the first child. The second child may have forgotten something they learnt earlier thatโs important for this question, and the third child just needs the question explained in a different way.
If the only response to all three cases is adjusting the level of difficulty, are we really solving the learning problem?
Difficulty is only one signal
Adaptive learning is a concept thatโs been around for some time. It is a way of adjusting what a child sees next based on how they are progressing.
For many digital learning tools, this has mainly meant adjusting the level of difficulty. If they are doing well, the activity and quizzes become harder. If they start getting questions wrong, it becomes easier. This is still useful in adjusting to the level of the child.
But adjusting the level of difficulty is only one possible solution.
A child may be working at the right level of difficulty and still get stuck. If we automatically respond by making the work easier, we never really address what is actually causing the problem in the first place.
What could be happening?
A subject like maths is cumulative and new concepts build on ideas learnt earlier.
For example, a child struggling with percentage may have an earlier gap in fractions. Or they are finding division difficult because they are a little bit rusty on times table that they did a few months back.
In other cases, they might just need more practice. Or they might know how to solve a familiar version of the problem but because the wording has changed, they now find it confusing.
As parents, we see this at home all the time. You explain something one way and get blank stares, but when you change the explanation it starts to make sense.
A wrong answer is the start of a question
For parents, a wrong answer can be useful because it gives you a reason to look a little closer.
Ask where your child became confused. See whether they remember earlier concepts that the question relies on. Or even ask them to explain what didnโt make sense.
Sometimes asking โwhere you got stuckโ reveals far more than just giving them easier questions.
The same principle applies to adaptive learning. The answer itself is only one signal. What matters is the understanding of what sits behind it.
The opportunity for adaptive learning
Teachers adapt all the time. They change explanations, revisit concepts, give extra practice and adjust how they teach depending on the studentโs needs. But doing that consistently to every child in a classroom is challenging.
This is where adaptive learning has an opportunity to help, particularly outside the classroom. Not by replacing what happens at school, but by extending that individual support and responding more closely to the child in front of it.
Adaptive learning shouldnโt stop at difficulty. It should build a picture over time and be able to respond to where the child is in their learning and use that to shape what happens next.
What has the child understood before?
What may they have forgotten?
Where have they struggled repeatedly?
Do they need more practice?
Do they need the same concept explained differently?
Difficulty still matters but it is only one part of understanding a childโs learning. Looking beyond the answer to work out what sits behind it is key. Technology has made this possible for more effective adaptive learning.
About the Author
Victor Leung is a lecturer at the University of Sydney and works with Brainiac an Australian edtech company developing an adaptive learning platform for students in Years 1 to 12, starting with maths. He is also a parent with a strong interest in how technology can better support childrenโs learning outside the classroom.
