Duke University Tutor is Helping Students Worldwide

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Duke University Tutor is Helping Students Worldwide

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Earlier today, America Learns recognized Duke University undergrad Patrick Tenbrink as the author of the October 2008 America Learns Global Strategy of the Month.  Tenbrink’s strategy is intended to help the legions of parents, older siblings and volunteer tutors who struggle during homework time to help children makes sense of mathematics word problems.  The strategy, which is being distributed to more than 10,000 educators and parents worldwide, is ideal for situations when students understand the math required to solve a problem, but get lost or lose focus as soon as the math is dressed in words.

Tenbrink observed that his fourth grader became distracted and lost all motivation for completing word problems when the student found the stories in the problems to be dull.  Rather than pushing the student to read the text slowly or to stick it out and just deal with the text, Tenbrink edits the problems, giving the characters funny names and putting the characters in situations that his student finds engaging or relevant to his own life.

Tenbrink found that when he created situations that captured his student’s imagination, his student could more easily create a mental image of what was happening in the problem. 

For example, instead of the student reading a problem about Joe and Sally buying apples and oranges, the student could read a problem about Bozley and Doofus buying rubber snakes and Flamin’ Hot Chee-tos.  As soon as the student had something interesting to read, he was able to comprehend and respond to the question.

When Tenbrink learned of the recognition he’s receiving for his work, he told a reporter with Duke Today, "It's just a great feeling to feel I've given something back and the effort not been pushed aside and taken for granted."

“In our educational psychology course Patrick has spoken passionately about the tutoring experience,” said Dr. David Malone, one of Tenbrink’s professors this semester.  “He recognizes clearly that our role is more than just helping kids complete their homework; we need to equip the kids with critical thinking strategies and tools for learning.”

Tenbrink is reminding us that when a student seems unable to complete an assignment, it isn’t necessarily due to the student not understanding the content at issue,” said Gary Kosman, Founder and CEO, America Learns.  “The student may simply find the problem to be boring.  Years of literacy research and logic tell us that students are more interested in reading when they read about topics that interest them.  Tenbrink applies that knowledge to his mathematics tutoring practice, adding engaging stories to the word problems so that his student takes interest in the assignment.  This is a practice that students can do on their own when tutors, teachers and other homework assistants aren’t available.  We can’t wait to see Tenbrink’s easy-to-implement approach benefiting thousands of students worldwide.”

Tembrink’s strategy will be available to download for free through November 24th at www.americalearns.net, and will be permanently available to subscribers of the America Learns Performance Measurement and Learning Network.


About Duke University’s Program in Education
The Duke University Program in Education provides opportunities for undergraduates to connect their liberal art studies and the academic work of their major with rigorous intellectual examination of the issues confronting schools, children, and communities.  Over the past several years, there has been a growing interest among Duke Undergraduates in the complex problems our nation faces and ways they as college graduates might contribute to resolving these issues. The Program in Education offers undergraduates ways to explore these pressing problems involving issues of race, class, and gender, particularly in relation to schools. Through interactive academic coursework and hands-on service-learning experiences in which students tutor in schools and after-school programs, undergraduates reflect deeply on underlying educational principles and gain the insight needed to become advocates for educational issues within the United States.   Learn more about Duke University’s Program in Education at http://www.duke.edu/web/education/about/ or by contacting Dr. David Malone ((919) 660-3075; dmalone@duke.edu).

About America Learns, LLC:
Los Angeles-based America Learns is a global educational performance and accountability firm reaching more than 20,000 students worldwide. The company's flagship service, the America Learns Network, helps organizations to simultaneously collect their educators' best practices from the field, share those strategies with educators as soon as they need them, and measure educators' performance. Organizations using its services include universities (e.g., Dwight Hall at Yale, Duke University, UC Berkeley, and the University of Michigan), community-based nonprofits, after-school programs, and school districts (e.g., the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and the Minneapolis Public Schools). The company also creates and publishes high quality, meaningful, stress-free learning resources for children that are steeped in relevant research and practice. Learn more at http://www.americalearns.net or by calling 310-689-0542.