What do you do when an otherwise competent student who used to love math now avoids the subject? That’s the problem that Andrea, a Bellmore resident, is facing with her 12-year-old daughter Rachel.
“My daughter scores at the highest levels on the state math exam and yet she avoids doing math at all costs,” says the mom, who asked that her last name be withheld. As a result, while Rachel has an innate ability for math, her grades are now poor. Rachel had dreamed of becoming a veterinarian or marine biologist. But when she learned those careers involved a lot of math, Rachel said she’d simply have to find another career. Andrea suspects that Rachel has lost her confidence with the subject. When prodded, Andrea inevitably hears, “I hate math!”
Those three words are a parent’s wake-up call to determine whether or not their child has math anxiety. In Rachel’s case, this “diagnosis” seems relevant because she’s a good student in every other subject, has innate ability in math and yet she performs poorly in the subject.
What Is Math Anxiety?
Sheila Tobias, cofounder of the Math Anxiety Clinic established at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, says that math anxiety paralyzes a child’s capacity to learn math even though the intellectual capability is there. A student is math anxious when her “poor performance in math is accompanied by high achievement in other subjects. A child with math anxiety knows how to study; the problem is emotional,” Tobias says.
She notes that the signal to parents that math anxiety may be an issue is an unwillingness to talk about or work at math. It’s important to note that a child with math anxiety is generally a good student. “It’s just that somewhere along the line they became traumatized by math.”
According to Tobias, there are many causes of math anxiety, including the embarrassment a child may feel when everyone else raises their hand to answer a question; not being able to complete a math test in the time allotted; and even having one’s back turned toward the board, knowing that everyone is watching. Many parents can probably relate to the feelings associated with what Tobias calls, “the dropped stitch.” That is, if a child misses or doesn’t understand a concept, this can cause them to grow confused, since math processes are “nested inside of one another.” In fact, math is cumulative and a missed concept can cause the emotional house of cards to come tumbling down.
Learning the Language
Danica McKellar, known for her role as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, earned a degree in mathematics from UCLA and she’s now an acclaimed mathematician, as well as the author of two books designed to eliminate math anxiety in middle school students. McKellar notes that part of the cause of math anxiety is that there’s pressure on teachers who are forced to adhere to a fast-paced curriculum, which makes it “difficult for even the best teachers to effectively ‘translate’ the math so that the students feel that math is familiar and not foreign.” McKellar considers math to be a type of language, which must be translated with care, otherwise students will get confused.
Another issue is having a view that intelligence is fixed, says Emiliya Zhivotovskaya, who has a private practice, Flourish, Inc., in Oceanside. “These children believe that they’re naturally endowed with a certain amount of intelligence,” she says. “If they’re told they’re ‘gifted’ or ‘smart’ when it comes to math, they might feel that they don’t need to try, a recipe for failure, which in turn creates anxiety. The other possible scenario with ‘fixed mindset’ children is that if they do try and fail, they’ll believe they have no natural ability and, again, they’ll feel anxious.”
Zhivotovskaya promotes a “growth mindset” in her clients because with this mindset, “students see failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.” When these children have a setback in math, they “roll up their sleeves and embrace hard work.” When they fail, they simply say, “I’ve failed” and try harder. The ‘fixed mindset’ child, however, says, “I’m a failure.” The difference between these two statements is a difference between a math anxious child and one that has math mental health.
How Can Parents Help?
To combat math anxiety, the experts mentioned here suggest the following steps:
1. Discuss with your child that they have the ability to do math, but they’re just too nervous. If you can’t reduce your child’s math anxiety, which is the first step, seek the help of an expert such as a coach, a teacher or a learning expert. Tobias advises that until you have dealt with the anxiety don’t endlessly repeat a lesson hoping it will sink in. It won’t.
2. Help your child to be more resilient and optimistic, says Zhivotovskaya. Show them by providing examples from your own life how effort and practice helped you overcome a challenge.
3. If your child has been “tuning out math” for some time, work with him to fill in the learning gaps or hire a tutor to do this. Invite the classroom teacher to be a partner in this process.
4. Try to understand your child’s learning style, advises McKellar. For example, if your child learns best visually, help him to make flashcards in order to study. If she’s an auditory learner, discuss math concepts and procedures together and summarize the main points.
5. If you’re math anxious yourself, don’t ever let it show, warns Tobias. It’s contagious.
How Can Teachers Help?
Teachers can also better help children to reduce or eliminate math anxiety. For one thing, they should know how to recognize it. Barbara Invidiata, who retired from a 30-year career in the West Hempstead School District in June, says she sees math anxiety in students who take copious notes, but can’t understand them; or in those students who sit open-mouthed or slouched down in their seats. Some children may be literally shaking when they enter a classroom. Avoidance of doing math homework is a good signal that math anxiety might be a problem.
In addition:
1. Teachers should notify a parent that there’s a problem and work together toward a solution.
2. Invidiata notes that a good teacher will meet quietly with your child and assure him that the two of them will work through the problem together and that the teacher will help the child to become successful.
3. Teachers should modify their teaching methods to suit all students’ learning styles.
4. Teachers need to make their classrooms thinker-friendly by providing an environment where a student feels safe to take risks.
5. Says McKellar, learners are supposed to be confused by a new concept, when they’re first trying to make sense of it. Letting students in on this little secret might go a long way.
Helping a child to overcome math anxiety takes a lot of patience. Yet, math is used every day and everywhere. If children like Rachel are to fulfill their dreams, they’ll have to make peace with math. Optimism, effort and practice are the tools math anxious students need. Once learned, they’ll serve them well in every aspect of their lives.
Karen Asofsky is the math chair at the Progressive School of Long Island and she’s a math tutor living in Merrick. She can be reached at karen@asofsky.com.
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