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Math Anxiety
posted by: Larisa | July 13, 2012, 05:10 PM   

Recently, someone told me that he had nightmares about triangles.  As a former music teacher, I was really unsure why anyone would ever think about triangles so much that triangles were plaguing this person’s sleep.  It occurred to me, however, that I sometimes think about music so much that my sleep is plagued with worry about perfectly analyzed tone rows.  If I get music anxiety and I’m a music teacher, then it shouldn’t sound so weird that a person with math anxiety could have nightmares about triangles.

A newly-released study found that girls get more anxiety than boys when it comes to mathematics.  Researchers suggest that girls get higher anxiety because of a “stereotype threat,” which causes an individual to feel anxiety about being judged based on a negative stereotype.  When you pair the stereotype threat with “math anxiety,” the end result is that girls get higher anxiety levels than boys, causing girls to underperform on math assessments.  Although other studies conclude that boys perform better on math assessments than girls, there is an underlying theory that girls might actually do better on math tests than boys if it were not for math anxiety.

Where does this anxiety come from, though?

Some posit that the anxiety is a result of a negative learning experience early on, particularly during the formative years at school.  This might mean that girls are brought up in a learning environment that preconditions them to think that they will never succeed at math.  From that point forward, success and failure at math becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for these students.  Teachers can help these students by helping these students to control their emotions.

Another valuable observation is that students rely on procedures rather than actual math.  While not all of us are sitting around contemplating the quadratic formula just for fun, we all have to demonstrate some amount of proficiency in math to get through school.  This “survival mode” method of learning math results in heavy reliance on a formula rather than thinking through why the math is the way that it is.  It’s not helpful to memorize the quadratic formula unless if you understand that the quadratic formula has function and, yes, a real world application.

Math anxiety might also set in because students don’t appreciate the real world relevance of the math.  Sure, we all know that math is relevant when you’re sitting down to pay a bill at a restaurant, but other than that, how often do you really think about percentages?  MORE THAN YOU REALIZE.  If your students have seven class periods to get through, what percentage of their day is spent in your classroom?  Math has everyday relevance, and a good math teacher will call attention to that relevance.  This will reduce anxiety because students begin to understand and appreciate that math is always there whether if they are conscious of it or not.

We all must demonstrate some basic math proficiency in order to be successful in the modern world.  As reliance and access to technology increases, students don’t think to turn to a compass or ruler when solving geometry problems.  When these seemingly irrelevant and archaic calculating tools are put before a student, a student should naturally respond in two ways – a healthy curiosity to learn more as balanced by a little nervousness about learning something new.  Math anxiety levels should lessen the more students are challenged to think through the problem and rely on their own cognitive skills.

Math anxiety most likely discourages otherwise bright students from entering careers in math-related fields or pursuing additional education.  The more this anxiety is tempered, however, the more comfortable students will be with math and the nightmares about triangles should vanish.

Teachers, what strategies do you use to alleviate math anxiety with your students?
Comment below.


Comments (2)Add Comment
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written by Tracie, Onalaska, July 13, 2012

*drink (of water)
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written by Tracie, Onalaska, July 13, 2012

The strategy I use is honesty. I am one of the girls mentioned in Larisa's article who is deathly afraid of math. However, I have to get over it because I teach math to 4th graders! So, when I see the kids getting uptight, I'm honest with them, "I know how you feel. Math scares me, too. Let's go through this together." Sometimes we take breaks, too. It helps to get a drink and shake off the worries.

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