One in Five Kids Think Fame is More Likely Than Math Proficiency
A new survey, conducted by Wakefield Research for Nintendo, confirms that math anxiety is alive and well among U.S. kids. In fact, of 400 children surveyed, one in five believe that they are more likely to grow up to become a professional athlete, actor or singer than they are to get A's and B's in math next year. Other results of the survey conducted Dec. 12-23, 2008, include:
- More than one-third of kids surveyed say that math is their most difficult subject.
- Nearly one-third of kids have very negative feelings about math: 18 percent called it "boring," while 13 percent actually called it "torture."
- 86 percent of parents surveyed say that math is important to their careers, even though more than half of them admitted they thought they'd never need the math they learned in school.
These results demonstrate that math remains perceived as a difficult but
important skill. Building on its legacy of training brains and getting
people moving with fitness games, Nintendo introduces Personal
Trainer: Math, new software for Nintendo DS that provides a fun and
rewarding way for people to improve their basic math abilities.
"Personal
Trainer: Math provides a fun antidote for math anxiety," said Cammie
Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales &
Marketing. "People can keep their math skills sharp while tracking their
progress every day to see how they improve."
Personal
Trainer: Math includes 40 fast-paced exercises, from basic addition
and multiplication to more extensive multiplication tables and
calculation ladders. Daily math drills keep skills sharp, while
attendance records provide ways for users to see how they improve week
to week and month to month. The Nintendo DS touch screen interface
allows users to input their answers quickly and easily. Using wireless
DS Download Play, up to 16 players can compete to finish their problems
with the fastest time, even if only one player has a game card.
Personal
Trainer: Math marks the second in Nintendo's Personal Trainer series
of titles that are designed to help people enrich their lives in fun and
creative ways. Personal Trainer: Cooking already has turned thousands of
Nintendo DS owners into budding chefs.
For more information about Personal Trainer: Math, visit www.PersonalTrainerMath.com
Methodology: The Nintendo Personal Trainer: Math survey was conducted by Wakefield Research via telephone interviewing. For this study, interviews were fielded among 400 American parents of kids ages 9 to 14, and then 400 kids between the ages of 9 and 14. Interviews were conducted Dec. 12-23, 2008.
