Have you ever had math anxiety? If so, you are not alone. Many people report experiencing math anxiety, and expressing it can affect their children.
Parental beliefs are contagious
Studies have shown that parents who express anxiety while helping their children with math lower their children’s performance in first and second grade. When mothers informed their daughters that they were not good at math, the daughters’ work on the subject decreased.
It’s not just parents
Female teachers’ math anxiety has been shown to negatively affect girls’ math performance. In one study, the more anxious primary school teachers were, the more likely girls in their classes were to be infected with the stereotype that girls were not good at math, and girls’ math performance was significantly affected. measurable. The boys in his classes were not affected.
Why is math anxiety a problem?
Math anxiety affects math performance. Math anxiety can have a disruptive effect on working memory, which is necessary for attacking math problems. When a child is preoccupied with fearful and apprehensive thoughts, his brain is not fully focused on the challenging task at hand, putting him at a distinct disadvantage that affects his learning. This is particularly common when children are given timed tests.
Higher level math will be much more important to the next generation. American students, at a minimum, typically have to take 10 years of math classes to earn a high school diploma, the least amount of education needed to land even an unskilled job in today’s job market. Lack of confidence in math leads students to avoid certain careers because high-level math needs to be completed for entry. This doesn’t just apply to obvious science occupations, many business college programs actually require two semesters of calculus.
As time goes on, STEM careers will become a much bigger part of the economy. The world of work will be radically transformed in short periods of time. For example, driverless cars could make taxi and truck drivers obsolete in ten years. Uber and similar companies are already making full-time taxi driving a thing of the past. Today’s kids will need a solid foundation in STEM subjects to prepare for a job market that we can’t even imagine today.
So how can parents help their children learn math more easily?
If you struggled with math or had anxiety, please refrain from expressing this to your child. Speak positively about how math (even simple calculations) helps you in your daily life today. Praise all of his efforts and persistence with his homework, even when he sometimes doesn’t get the right answer. If you are a mother of a daughter, let her know that you have confidence in her ability to do well in math.
Parents can foster positive attitudes about math by emphasizing that math is just a subject that is learned with practice and persistence. There is no such thing as a “mathematical person” and anyone can learn mathematics. Making mistakes is just a healthy part of that process, not evidence of a lack of skill or intelligence. In fact, it has been shown in MRIs that making mistakes in math makes a person’s brain grow. There is no race or gender that has any special advantage when doing math, those stereotypes are totally wrong.
Parents can help their children learn math by encouraging them to play math enrichment games and puzzles to develop number sense. Pictures such as board games are especially helpful in developing a child’s understanding of math concepts. Spatial skills, understanding and remembering the spatial relationships between objects, are closely related to mathematical skills. Studies have shown that children benefited immediately after playing a number line game similar to Snakes and Ladders, and a visual model of the positive and negative number line helped children intuitively understand how negative numbers work. The more games kids play and have fun with numbers, the less math anxiety and the more confidence they will have in exploring math.