We’ve all heard the classic story problem about two trains leaving different stations at the same time. But, do most students learn the math when presented with real-life situations?

A study led by Jennifer Kaminski, research scientist at The Ohio State University’s Center for Cognitive Science, found that abstract math concepts do not become more relevant or easier to learn when educators incorporate examples from the real world. In fact, such examples may hinder student understanding.

“College students who learned a mathematical concept with concrete examples couldn’t apply that knowledge to new situations,” says Kaminski. Getting back to the train example, “The danger [is] that many students only learn how to solve the problem with the trains. If students are later given a problem using the same mathematical principles, but about rising water levels instead of trains, that knowledge just doesn’t seem to transfer.”

Concrete examples can still be used to help test that math concepts were learned. However, results from the Ohio State study demonstrate that students are best prepared to apply math concepts to a variety of situations when abstract symbols, such as variables, are presented instead.