SPOTTING MATH ANXIETY

JEFFREY C. DIZON

Teachers should be able to spot the symptoms of math anxiety – which affects almost half of elementary school students – to immediately counteract it.

Math anxiety manifests as early as Kindergarten. It is not just a dislike, but a real problem for students. It blocks the brain’s working memory thus the start of math avoidance, low achievement, and fear.

A number of students avoid math altogether – they would do anything to leave the classroom during math instruction. This suggests a high level of math anxiety. Students may even exhibit misbehavior.

Some avoidance, however, may be hard to recognize. Students with math anxiety have perfected the skill of doing very little math without drawing too much attention to themselves.

There are also students who seem to freeze when asked a question involving math. Math-related questions stress them a lot and lose full access to their working memory, making it impossible for them to think clearly – even if they know the answer.

Students with math anxiety have a false assumption that being good at math means getting the right answers fast. Thus, they are very hard on themselves. We should not let students think that is how math works.

This opens the tendencies for students to have negative thoughts about their own abilities, and eventually affects their achievements. Because they avoid math and have less exposure to the subject, they do poorly on assessments. When they have low grades, it fuels the assumption more that they just can’t do math.

So what can teachers do when they spot math anxiety in their students? They should be able to provide them with time to understand the “why”. Help struggling students by focusing on procedures.

All students deserve the time to truly understand the math they’re being asked to do. Don’t skip this step, as we might end up with students struggling with a lot of memory, repetitive steps, and anxiety.

Reassure students that there’s no such thing as a math person, or special people born more capable in math. This will reduce their anxiety.

Give students appropriate think time, which will support them in developing conceptual understanding and communicates that being fast at math is not the same as being good at it.

We all know that students do their best learning when they feel comfortable and safe. Let’s remove the worry of being singled out so that students will have the time and space to think deeply.

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The author is Head Teacher III at Guemasan Elementary School, Arayat East District.