Loss of Academic Ability: A Path to Recovery through Cognitive Science by Mutsumi Imai | Book Introduction

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Introduction

When you hear the term "loss of academic ability" in the title, you might imagine the common narrative that "children's academic performance has been declining recently." However, this book does not deal with such superficial issues. Mutsumi Imai, a leading expert in cognitive science, reveals why children are unable to fully demonstrate the "ability to learn" that they inherently possess, and clarifies the causes and the path to recovery. While the primary target audience seems to be school teachers, the content is rich in implications for everyone involved in education. As a private tutor who interacts with children daily, the questions raised by this book felt very grounded in reality.

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Part 1: From the Current Situation of Inability to Do Arithmetic and Reading Comprehension

The first issue addressed is the reality that elementary and junior high school students cannot solve basic arithmetic word problems. For example, there is a problem like this:

The correct answer is "6 people." If you subtract the 7 people in front of Kotone-san and Kotone-san herself (1 person) from the total of 14, you get 6. However, in reality, there are many incorrect answers, such as "14-7=7," where they forget to subtract Kotone-san herself, or "14x7=98," where they misunderstand the meaning.

The correct answer is "12 centimeters," but many children answer "48-4=44" or "48x4=192." This phenomenon of "not being able to solve word problems" has been pointed out repeatedly for over 30 years. The reason it remains unsolved is not because of the children's abilities, but perhaps a problem on the part of adults who have continued to implement ad-hoc measures without grasping the essence of the cause. That is the question Imai poses.

Part 2: Unraveling the Causes of Academic Difficulty

In Part 2, the fundamental reasons why children feel they "don't understand" are explained from the perspective of cognitive science. I will briefly organize the important keywords that appear here.

Schema

This is a "knowledge framework" or "template for understanding" formed in the mind through past experience. If you have the correct schema, you can smoothly understand the meaning and patterns of a problem statement. However, if you have an incorrect schema, you will force the information to fit that error and understand it in a distorted way.
Schema Example 1: "Use all the numbers that appear in the problem statement in the order they appear."
Schema Example 2: "Multiplication makes numbers larger, and division makes them smaller."

Abductive Reasoning

This is a reasoning function that creates a "plausible hypothesis," even if it is not certain. The process of reading a problem statement, thinking "this is probably what it means," setting up an equation, and deriving an answer falls under this category.

Working Memory

This refers to the cognitive function that temporarily holds and manipulates information such as problem statements, numerical values, and intermediate calculations.

Executive Function

This refers to the cognitive function of focusing attention only on the information necessary to solve a problem while suppressing attention to unnecessary information.

Metacognitive Ability

This is the ability to consciously monitor one's own way of thinking and reflect by asking, "Is this way of thinking correct?" or "Is there another way?"


These elements work in close connection with each other. The act of solving a problem proceeds in the following three stages:
1. Starting from a schema, form a hypothesis using abductive reasoning.
2. Working memory and executive function unconsciously support the process of abductive reasoning.
3. Metacognitive ability consciously checks the abductive reasoning and corrects it if there are errors.

And the reason children cannot solve problems is not becauseabductive reasoning—the thinking process itself—is impossible.
1. The schema itself is incorrect.
2. There is excessive load on working memory and executive function, but they do not know how to reduce that load.
3. Reflection and correction through metacognition are not being performed.
As such,they stumble because various powers that control thinking are not working well.

Part 3: A Path to Recovering Learning Ability and Motivation

In the final Part 3, the concept of "Playful Learning" is introduced as a method for recovering learning. As the name suggests, it is an approach to learning through play. Examples practiced in elementary schools include:
- Time-telling Rock-Paper-Scissors
- Clock Karuta
- Fraction Master Playing Cards
These are introduced and positioned as attempts to correctly build schemas while having fun.

Impressions

The examples of children's incorrect answers introduced in the book overlapped with my own teaching experience, and I found them very convincing.It was a major discovery to be able to organize what I had only been able to grasp intuitively as "what they don't understand" within the framework of cognitive science.

What I felt after finishing the book is that this is not just a story about children's learning. If left alone, incorrect schemas remain even after becoming an adult. If one does not continue to study and keep metacognition working, one might unconsciously direct misunderstandings and prejudices toward others. It also became an opportunity for me to reflect on my own way of thinking.

I also found the "Master Test" that appears repeatedly in this book to be interesting. The "Master Test" is a test developed by Ms. Imai to clarify the fundamental causes of children's learning stumbling blocks. It is characterized not by simply measuring correctness, but by carefully observing how a child thinks and where they are misunderstanding. Although it seems that currently the "Master Test" can only be used by school personnel, I hope it will spread in a way that reaches the fields of truancy support and individual tutoring, leading to education that is close to how each individual child understands things.

As for points of concern, there were parts where the flow of the conversation felt somewhat complicated. As it is the culmination of Ms. Imai's work, many themes are included and it is very stimulating, but I felt that the topics expanded widely, making it difficult to grasp the path while reading. The "Summary" at the end of each chapter is a welcome feature, but there were parts where I felt confused because the phrasing was slightly different from the main text or new information was added.

Also, the Playful Learning initiatives introduced in Part 3 were very interesting, but honestly, I wanted more learning materials that allow for learning while playing. It felt that designing multiple games is necessary to keep children engaged without getting bored, and it seems realistically difficult for teachers in the field to develop them on their own.

In Conclusion

I intend to create materials that allow for Playful Learning myself and incorporate them into my truancy support work. If I can create good materials, I hope to eventually make them available for many people to use. I would also like to write articles in the future introducing commercially available board games that are useful for learning.

Although it is a dense book with many technical terms, if you can organize the basic concepts with this article, it should become much easier to understand. If you are interested in understanding "what children do not understand" within the framework of cognitive science, why not pick up a copy?

Reference: Mutsumi Imai, "Loss of Academic Ability: A Path to Recovery through Cognitive Science," Iwanami Shoten, 2024

Thank you for reading this far.

I usually provide continuous support to families dealing with truancy.

I also offer free consultations regarding truancy and child-rearing.

I would like to be of some help, so please feel free to contact me.

Please don't try too hard, and feel free to rely on me anytime.