For many college students, high school math is but a distant memory of derivative functions and playing games on graphing calculators.

When a professor mentions that certain math skills are necessary for his class, it sends the lecture hall into a frenzy of questions and worry. It seems that math, more than any other subject, is lost in the student's transition from high school to college.

With a $69,000 grant, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh geology professor Jennifer Wenner intends to figure out why.

"There are a couple of hypotheses," Wenner said. "From my own experience, some people get it in their head that they can't do math, and they get this block about it."

Students often complain that a lot of the mathematic material they learn cannot be applied to the real world, so Wenner said they do not put enough effort into retaining that knowledge.

"So much of math is taught in a theoretical way," Wenner added. "So it's hard [for the student] to apply it from the theoretical to an actual problem. The cognitive skills aren't there."

The National Science Foundation, which presented the grant to UW-O, has an interest in this research because developing these student skills is essential for problem solving in scientific fields like geology, atmospheric science and oceanography. None of these fields are directly linked to math the same way physics is, for example, but they still require it at one point or another to work out practical problems.

Another reason for the research is to understand why so many students struggle with math, which then negatively affects their college experience.

"A study was conducted a few years ago to tell us what things were causing students to drop out of college after their first year, and the No. 1 drop-out predictor was taking [and failing] a math class," said Jeanne Foley, Math Teaching and Learning Center director, who received a grant earlier this year to innovate new ways of teaching algebra. "Forty percent of incoming freshmen take those classes, so we figured it was the best thing to improve upon."

According to Wenner, she is going to use some of the money to develop new ways of teaching students how to apply math skills.

"We're designing some different online modules that you can use in conjunction with any intro geology course," she said. "They have math applications for lots of different topics. We're also going to develop a pre- and post-test to see what's working and not working."

According to Wenner, the grant is a collaborative effort with a community college in Seattle where her colleague, Eric Baer, is also heading similar efforts.

–Pamela Buechel contributed to this report.