Math Anxiety
Mathematics is a fundamental aspect of our lives as we encounter it at least once a day, but it causes many people to have great anxiety. However, whether we purchase coffee or if we decide to cook a meal, math will always be an integral part of our lives. Therefore, as educators, even though we need to make this an essential part of our curriculum, we need ensure that we understand math anxiety.
Anxiety is “the tensing of the muscles, the rushing of the blood, the nervousness you feel when you have to go to the blackboard, or you have a math equation, or you’re sitting at dinner with a group of friends and you see the waiter coming to you with the bill and you think, ‘I have to figure out the tip and divide by the number of people at this table and that number is not ten’” (TEDxIUM, 2014). According to Sisto (2014), the part of the brain that is activated when one is anxious, is the same area that perceives physical pain and danger (TEDxIUM). Sisto (2014), states that the actual act of solving the mathematical equations does not cause anxiety but the anticipation of math is the real issue (TEDxIUM).
For many young children, math can be very exciting as much of what they learn is deeply ingrained in the process of play. However, as children move into their middle years of development, math is no longer thrilling, and for many students, it causes great anxiety. Anxiety is caused because students believe that they cannot do math (TEDxIUM, 2014). This is because, for the most part, mathematics is no longer taught to students in an interesting play based manner. Students are expected to comprehend and solve complex mathematical equations that are taught to them from a textbook with no connection to their current lives. This causes frustration and anxiety for many students.
According to Michelle Sisto (2014), anxiety hinders one’s ability to succeed much more than one’s belief in their inability to accomplish specific tasks, because this tends to lead to “avoidance” (TEDxIUM). While we can live our lives avoiding activities such as, dancing, we cannot afford to have a strong background in mathematics. For instance, as our students grow into adulthood, many of them will accumulate debt via student loans or visa bills. Those who do not develop a strong skill set in math, will continuously be behind on payments and will accrue more debt. Thus, we cannot allow our students to be short-changed in this crucial area of their lives.
References
TEDx Talks. (2014). TEDx IUM – Michelle Sisto – subtract anxiety from your math experience. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_njq16WDH9E
