We鈥檝e written about math anxiety on this blog before鈥攈ow it can be brought on by early negative math experiences and, more recently, its . Research says math anxiety can lead to a decrease in working memory and that girls taught by a female teacher with high math anxiety are more likely to endorse gender-related stereotypes about math ability. (The same is not true for boys.)
But what does all this mean for the math classroom? What can teachers do to combat math anxiety, whether or not they have it themselves?
Psychology professors Sian L. Beilock of the University of Chicago and Daniel T. Willingham of the University of Virginia have some ideas. Writing in the latest issue of , a publication by the American Federation of Teachers, they offer recommendations based on their research, including:
- Focus math teacher training on pedagogy rather than concepts. 鈥淩esearchers have found that a course on how to teach math concepts was more effective in addressing math anxiety among pre-service teachers than a course focused directly on the math concepts themselves,鈥� write Beilock and Willingham.
- Stop giving timed math tests. 鈥淭here are likely several reasons why alleviating time pressure makes math anxiety less of a problem, from reducing worries about not finishing in time, to giving students the time and space to work through their answers.鈥�
- Be careful when consoling students who are struggling. "[S]aying, for example, 鈥業t鈥檚 OK, not everyone can be good at these types of problems鈥�... sends a subtle message that validates a student鈥檚 opinion that he鈥檚 not good at math, and can lower a student鈥檚 motivations and expectations for future performances,鈥� they write. Instead, say to students, 鈥淵es, this work is challenging, but I know that with hard work you can do it!鈥�
The second suggestion鈥攖o scrap timed math tests鈥攊s much more controversial than it may seem. Remember those timed multiplication tests you took in elementary school鈥攖he large grid of problems you had one or two or three minutes to work your way through? Many teachers not only still give those, but consider them a staple of good math instruction. See the mix of comments below this 澳门跑狗论坛 Commentary piece in which Jo Boaler, a math education professor at Stanford University, similarly called for their elimination.
As for the third suggestion, on consoling students, that one sounds a lot like Carol Dweck鈥檚 work on mindsets. She writes that students who see intelligence as a fixed trait do not perform as well as those who view it as something that can be improved with effort.
Would be great to get some feedback in the comments section below on the researchers鈥� suggestions. Do they seem correct? Feasible? What did the authors miss?