Maths Anxiety

• Mathematics
• Higher Education (non-degree)

Maths Anxiety

Go to lessonup.app and type in code (bottom left of this page).

We will cover:

• Nature and prevalence of maths anxiety
• Symptoms and causes
• Practical strategies for overcoming maths anxiety (end with an open question to find your top 3)

Maths anxiety: how common is this and how does it present among affected students in the classroom?

The nature and prevalence of maths anxiety

Comparing personal perceptions with the latest research via anonymous polls

Which is true?

1 in 4 people have an anxiety associated with maths

1 in 10 people have an anxiety associated with maths

What age group do you think experiences the highest rates of maths anxiety?

Primary school children

Secondary school children

16-17 year olds

Adults

Who is most affected by maths anxiety?

Low attaining students of maths

High attaining students of maths

All levels of attainment

Who is more likely to report feeling anxious about maths?

Girls

Boys

Maths anxiety can be present from as young as ...

5 years of age

10 years of age

Teaching learners for just one or two hours a week restricts the teacher's capacity to recognize students who are anxious about maths.

True

False

Maths anxiety: symptoms and causes

• “A feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in ordinary life and academic situations.” Richardson and Suinn (1972)
• Lesser known symptoms can be not starting work, taking too much time, not knowing where to start, blurting out any number, not finishing work, not showing working out, avoidance or disruption. 
• Maths hurts: studies on regions of the brain associated with threat detection showed increased activity when faced with a maths task  and often the experience of pain itself (Nicolson, 2017)
  
• Interestingly, this was not seen during maths performance
• Research suggests that the majority of those who experience maths anxiety are usually learners with a ‘feeling’ rather than a ‘thinking’ preference, otherwise known as ‘empathisers’. 
• An individual's self-concept, home life, education, policy decisions and other cultural factors cause anxiety.
  
• Timed tests - children doing timed tests experienced increased activity in the regions of the brain associated with fear and decreased activity in the regions where problem solving needs to take place. (Young, Wu and Menon, 2012)
• Repeated re-sits and failure have negative effects on brain and lead to learned helplessness (Nicolson, 2015)

Why is maths anxiety so debilitating for learners?

• Working memory is the ability we have to hold and manipulate information in the mind over short periods of time
• Working memory capacity is strongly associated with academic attainments (especially in reading and maths)
• Anxiety bombards working memory preventing it from doing its job
  
• Not only students with working memory deficits who are affected
• Even students with the required working memory capacity for a task will be affected
• Students with the highest levels of working memory seem to suffer the most if they experience maths anxiety (American Educator, 2014)
  
• Advanced strategies demand more working memory and so are more sensitive to the negative effects of anxiety.
  

Overcoming maths anxiety: is there anything you have used which has been particularly helpful?

Overcoming Maths anxiety

• Two-fold: tackling how maths is taught and exploring how students feel about the maths
  
• Cultivate a growth mindset.
  
• Foster a classroom culture that values mistakes
  
• Start from a place of comfort
  
• Make maths a game
  
• The Growth Zone Model
  
• Re-thinking teaching approaches
  

How to promote a growth mindset

• Explore how mindset affects learning (videos and resources in Maths Anxiety folder)
• Take responsibility in recognising own mindset (self-assessment)
  
• If the teacher has a fixed mindset, the students are more likely to also have a fixed mindset.

 

The Growth Zone model

• Tool emerged from researchers working with teachers and learners on reducing the impact of maths anxiety and increasing resilience.
  
• The comfort zone is where a student can work independently on familiar tasks
  
• The growth zone is where new learning happens. It should be safe to make mistakes, get stuck, get support and do challenging activities.
  
• The anxiety zone is where what is being asked is not within the learner’s reach at the moment.

Re-thinking teaching approaches to alleviate anxiety

• On the next slide there will be a link to online card matching task  (Wordwall). You will group cards into teaching approaches that may lead to anxiety and those that help reduce anxiety. 
• Pick three approaches that you think would be most effective in reducing anxiety (there will be an open question to follow where you will write in your three chosen approaches). 

wordwall.net

Which 3 approaches do you think would be most effective?