Mathnasium

Mathnasium (also Mathnasium Learning Center) is an education brand and supplemental learning franchise consisting of over 600 learning centers in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia that provides instruction in math to students in pre-kindergarten through high school. The curriculum employs the Mathnasium Method, a proprietary system that was developed over 35 years by co-founder Lawrence Martinek.

History

Martinek, a Los Angeles-based mathematics educator, began developing the Mathnasium Method early in his teaching career by writing his own supplemental materials to school curricula. In 1985, Martinek published Math Tips for Parents, a guide for parents and teachers based on his own experiences and his work with his son. In the book, Martinek argues that students build confidence and mastery in mathematics through successful encounter and interaction with carefully selected materials. Martinek based the Mathnasium Method on the premise that a student's dislike of math stems from the frustration and embarrassment of not understanding math the way it is taught in the classroom. He emphasizes that an approach combining oral, visual, mental, and written modalities helps children to develop number sense.