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Where does it come from? Anxiety manifests itself in different ways. Some students are jittery, some look calm and resigned to poor performance. Some race through tests and assignments, others avoid as much as they can. But however it manifests itself, math anxiety is truly unpleasant. Psychologists report that given a choice of pain or anxiety, people choose pain. There are many causes, but some of it comes from the nature of mathematics itself. Math, more than any other subject, requires us to think clearly, cleanly, and often abstractly. Therefore, there's no formula for us to follow, and it is challenging in ways we can't completely prepare for. Some of it is caused by a false understanding of what math success looks like, and therefore a false expectation. Many students - and families, misinterpret the struggle in math, and equate this with failure. They think being good at math means just knowing it. So when they don't, they start to worry that they don't have what it takes. One of the best things we can do for our children, is re-label the struggle in math, and let them know that that is the way math is done - through struggle and hard thinking, rather than a flash of insight, or just "being born knowing it." |
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Great Math
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