For more than two decades, I have worked with students who were struggling with math. Some went from failing to achieving As. Those results were encouraging, but they also raised a question that continues to guide my work: what changed in the way those children understood and used math?

I came to believe that many children are capable of far more than their results suggest. This includes children who are already achieving good results. They too can become dependent on familiar methods and miss a relationship that would open up a more demanding problem. When math is presented mainly as methods to follow, we may see whether a child can produce an answer without seeing how the child arrived at it.

That belief led me to develop a different approach. Through purposeful play, carefully designed challenges and guided questions, I help children experience mathematical ideas, notice relationships and make sense of what they are doing. The aim is for them to use that understanding when a problem is unfamiliar, without depending on someone showing them each next step.

It also changed how I train teachers. Before offering help, we need to observe: What is the student paying attention to? What does the student understand? Is the student reasoning, recalling a demonstration or making a guess? The right support begins with seeing the child's thinking.

Over the years, I have trained hundreds of teachers to work in this way. Their ability to bring the approach to their own students matters deeply to me. It means this work can reach children beyond those I teach personally.

This belief continues to drive Neuromath Academy's research and development. Thinking Gym, Pattern Thinkers and CurioMITY are different expressions of the same commitment: to create learning experiences that help children see math, develop their thinking and use what they understand with growing independence, whatever their current grades.

My hope is for this approach to shape more than individual results. I want classrooms where teachers are curious about how children think, where children have room to explore and explain, and where success in math grows from understanding they can carry into the next challenge.

Dr. Norman Tien

Founder, Neuromath Academy