Category: Math Education

Many students have anxiety when it comes to math. They find working with numbers stressful because of the extra care required for coming up with the correct answers during lessons. Taking a math test can cause students to lose focus, forget steps, and feel overwhelmed.

Timed tests exacerbate math anxiety.

Students feel pressure to perform quickly and accurately in timed math tests. If they fail at either, anxiety builds. The test-takers don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their peers. They don’t want to feel as though they are failing.

Timed tests

Setting testing time limits is nothing new. College entrances exams are timed. Professional certifications in several industries require that candidates submit to a timed test as a way to prove their knowledge and expertise.

Teachers often require automaticity in reciting math facts like the multiplication table because they know their students will need speed and fluency during timed tests. As a response to timed tests, teachers assign Mad Math Minutes to encourage automaticity in calculations.

Recognizing math anxiety

It seems like no other subject indices stress like mathematics. The anxiety surrounding math isn’t even limited to the classroom. If severe enough, this clinical condition can profoundly affect children and adults. As much as 6% of the population has math anxiety.

Math anxiety can be hereditary. Parents with math phobias can unwittingly pass them on to their children. That anxiety can last a lifetime.

Adults with math anxiety may experience stress when examining bank statements or paying bills. Students experience math anxiety in the math classroom, and also outside of formal math instruction, when figuring out grades and GPAs.

Some of the symptoms include:

• Rapid heart rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Constriction of the pupils
• Shallow breathing
• Tension headaches

Students may try to avoid math class by finding reasons to visit the counselor or school nurse during class time. Prolonged trips to the restroom are also part of math avoidance. These absences, however, make the problem worse. By missing instruction, students with math anxiety get further behind, and their stress levels increase.

Time tests make the math anxiety worse.

Strategies to reduce anxiety

• Practice in class by playing games. The focus is on playing, but gamification still requires correct answers in a timed environment.
• Teach your students how to use growth mindset techniques. When students believe they power through math problems, they often will. Growth mindset helps them understand that the anxiety from hard work benefits them.
• Take your students through visioning exercises in which they see and feel themselves answering test questions and being successful.

Timed tests aren’t going away.

To reduce math anxiety, help your students develop a positive attitude. Math seems overwhelming because of the multi-step processes and many formulas. Keep directions as simple as possible. One probability and statistics professors told students, “There are only four things you can do in math: add, subtract, multiply, and divide. You came to this class already knowing how to do these things. I’m here to help with the rest.”

By showing your students how to work through and perhaps overcome math anxiety, you’re changing their perception of themselves.

Math anxiety is a real issue in many classrooms. Some kids will tell you they hate math, and that may be true. There are also students in your classroom who feel overly anxious every time you begin math instruction.

Their hands become clammy, their breathing changes, and they may panic. Your students may be feeling anxious about solving problems in math if they exhibit any of these signs:

• Acting out. If taking out the math books sparks disruptive behavior, students with math anxiety may be trying to create a distraction, hoping you’ll send them out of the room.
• Subject avoidance. Absences on test days or excuses to leave the classroom may point to math anxiety.
• Downshifting. Children who feel as though the work is too hard may shut down. To avoid attempting any problem-solving the student may cry, shout, or withdraw into him or herself.
• No response. Students who stare out the window or ignore you altogether may feel frozen when it comes to answering questions in math.

When your students act out, downshift, and seem to retreat within themselves, try these ideas to help them overcome math anxiety.

Play games

Make learning a game when problem-solving in math.

Talk about problems as challenges or puzzles, and create fun ways to figure them out. Try paired and group work on erasable boards. Model problem-solving in front of your students, and let them model problem-solving for their classmates as well. To reduce anxiety about finding the correct answer, reveal the solution when you present the problem. The goal for students is to discover how to come up with the same answer.

Encourage expression

Anxiety may help students perform better when solving problems. By recognizing the concern for what it is, students can use the feelings associated with it to improve performance.

Ask your students to tackle the math challenges in two steps. First, have them write down what they are worried about. This step pinpoints the fear. Next, have them write, “This is a normal fear, and I can control it.”

Try heterogeneous grouping

Place students in heterogeneous groups when solving math problems. The students in these mixed groups may approach finding a solution in different ways, but that’s part of the process of learning. Ask students to explain the steps they used. There are often many ways to get to an answer, and heterogeneous grouping is an excellent way to illustrate this point.

Growth mindset

The theory of brain plasticity works like this: our brains love challenges, and every successfully completed challenge increases achievement. That’s where growth mindset comes in. If students can convince themselves to get to work and do their best, they may find that not only can they work through math problems, but they also may be successful in answering them correctly.

Be aware that not all of your students may like math. Some have a keen anxiety about solving math problems, but they can defeat their fears with your help.

When students see the relevance of math and how they’ll need practical math skills, they may be able to overcome the anxiety that was holding them back.