Publication Spotlight: Why is this Hard? An Examination of Math Required by Technicians in the Workplace

The Journal of Advanced Technological Education (J ATE) covers many different topics, but they all lead back to the journal's mission--to support technological education through the publication of high-quality, peer-reviewed research. And this mission has never been more important than now, with the education landscape buffeted by changes in funding and policies on one side, and by the challenges of AI on the other.

At first glance, the title might suggest that the paper covers ground that has certainly been traveled before--why is math often a stumbling block on the road to a science-based career?  However, while this paper does cover some aspects of that question, it updates the query by framing it within the current discussion of AI in education and in the workplace.  

That framing is what made this paper fascinating to me, with what I think is the new key question found on page 6:  "What does that (the integration of AI into the workplace) imply for the math that future technicians will need?"

So now, the question is two-pronged--not only "why is it hard" but "what math skills are going to be needed in the future". Wow, it just got trickier. 

The authors do not just jump in to the revised question. They set the stage by discussing the basis of "number sense", to give context to how math can be internalized as it is learned, and how difficulties in understanding may arise. They then examined the math competencies and understandings needed for entry-level technicians with two-year college degrees. They found that, in general, the requirements were commonly taught in middle or early high school, so they were not outside of the college-students' educational levels. But the authors make a critical distinction:  "the important math competency lies not only in knowing how to calculate something, but in understanding what is being calculated".

This point is further elaborated on when the authors describe workplace tasks as requiring two levels of mathematics: syntax and semantics. Syntactic level is the skill to perform operations, an the procedures that are then enabled. The semantic level "requires understanding the concepts that lend meaning to those operations."  And that is where, according to the authors, the technicians' math competencies will be crucial--to understand the semantics so that when the AI supplies the syntax, the technician is able to supervise the process as a whole, to catch if things go wrong because they understand what should happen mathematically, and in the context of the whole process. Technicians need to understand the procedures they are carrying out, and math is fundamental to developing reasoning and understanding.

So, math can still be challenging, but it remains a crucial part of a technician's education.

P. Horwitz, R. Null, and L.A. Seidman. 2026. Why Is This Hard? An Examination of Math Required by Technicians in the Workplace. Journal of Advanced Technological Education, Vol. 5 Issue 1. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18331486