A gym for the brain? Go figure

LOFTY LOGO – Bridget Summers, owner of the “Mathnasium” franchise that opened last week in Hyannis, points to the company logo, which also happens to be a goal of the serious student.

“Mathnasium” sums up path to learning

There’s a new gym in town but you will hear less about abs, biceps and bench presses than you will about square roots, quotients, and finding unknown quantities.

It is called “Mathnasium” and it opened last week at 16 Sea St., Hyannis, between South and Main streets under the direction of local franchise owner Bridget Summers of Osterville.

 “You join like you would a gymnasium,” Summers said, “and you drop in at your  convenience, as you would a fitness center, to exercise your mind in mathematics, from second grade all the way up to pre-calculus.”

“Mathnasium” is a franchise operation with 202 offices nationwide and three, including this one, in Massachusetts, helping fulfill the national desire to produce more students with the solid math skills required in most 21st century business and science applications, or “apps” as the young ’uns call them these days.

Here’s how it works. A student signs up as he or she would a fitness center. The student, or client, receives a comprehensive assessment via “sophisticated techniques” to determine “with great accuracy” what a student or client knows and does not know about mathematics.   

Then a personalized learning program is prescribed, with clients following their own prescription for mathematical success with the help of specially trained “Mathnasium” teachers who provide individual instruction and “warm encouragement.”

The site is arranged with a number of L-shaped tables, each with a teacher on one side, and up to four or six students on the other, each of them following their prescribed program at their own pace and with the help of the teacher at their elbow

 “The students can stop by any time and as often as they wish,” Summers said. “There are always teachers here. We suggest they work out at least twice a week for an hour.”

While “Mathnasium’s” logo is a big red “A+,” that grade in school is not guaranteed, Summers quips. The student has a lot to do with success. But for proof of progress, “Mathnasium” relies on student report cards, independent tests and parent testimony, all intended to measure the speed and magnitude of improvements in math skills, numerical thinking and attitude.

 “We offer parents an alternative to private in-home tutoring, which can be very expensive. It decreases the cost by about half,” Summers said.

Summers, on the Cape since 1994, commuted to and graduated from U-Mass, Dartmouth, with a degree in biology following high school in her native New Jersey. She confesses she had difficulty with mathematics as a young student. “I had to do a lot of catch-up in college and ultimately found joy in math.”

Her own experience is what directed her entrepreneurial bent toward buying into the franchise even while she is in the process of completing her MBA. She will be handling the business end while teachers tend to student training.  

She said “Mathnasium” isn’t only for students who may have fallen behind in math, but for those who are good at it and seek enrichment.

“We’re having a grand opening July 3 and an open house July 4 to accommodate interested parents and students who may walk by before and after the July 4 parade,” Summers said.