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Did you know how math anxiety affects the brain like fear?
In school, work or daily life, math anxiety, or math phobia, has become an obstacle for many people to face numbers and solve mathematical problems. In addition to affecting the psychology, this emotion also triggers anxiety reactions at the physiological level, which in turn interferes with thinking and learning.
Mark H. Ashcraft defines math anxiety as "a feeling of nervousness, worry, or fear that interferes with mathematical performance."
Academic research on math anxiety dates back to the 1950s. Mary Fides Gough coined the term "mathemaphobia" to describe people's fear of mathematics. As this phenomenon has been studied in depth, scholars have found that high levels of math anxiety are closely related to academic performance, making learning math more difficult.
According to the American Psychological Association, math anxiety often goes hand in hand with test anxiety and causes students to dislike all math-related tasks. Hence, the aversion and avoidance of mathematics further exacerbates the situation. Hembree's (1990) meta-analysis showed a significant negative correlation between math anxiety and poor math performance.
In a high-pressure testing environment, math anxiety can take up students' working memory and prevent them from solving problems effectively.
Unfortunately, math avoidance can lead to students becoming less math-savvy and making them more anxious when they do have to face math. Because of this, math anxiety affects many college students, who choose to take fewer math courses and have negative attitudes toward math.
Brain scans conducted by researcher Sian Beilock's team at the University of Chicago show that math anxiety is not just a response to a lack of math ability, but rather a process in which the body's nervous system responds in anticipation of solving a math problem. It will cause higher anxiety.
The physiological roots of this anxiety make math anxiety not to be underestimated. In fact, the reaction area of math anxiety in the brain overlaps with the area that feels physical harm, which makes math anxiety a kind of close physiological reaction. Connected emotions.
The effects of maths anxiety can follow students throughout their academic careers and are likely to only get worse over time.
Since 1972, the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) developed by Richardson and Suinn has helped identify and quantify this emotion. Higher scores on the MA scale indicate stronger feelings of anxiety. Their findings showed that math anxiety directly affects students’ math performance.
According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, students experiencing high math anxiety scored 34 points lower on math tests than students without anxiety, a gap equivalent to a full year of academic achievement.
In many countries, parents' attitudes and expectations towards mathematics also directly affect their children's feelings and achievements in mathematics.
Cultural differences between countries also play a role in the development of math anxiety. For example, in Taiwan and Japan, parents place a greater emphasis on effort rather than talent, which has a constructive impact on children’s growth mindsets, helping students learn to learn from their mistakes and boosting their confidence in math.
In addition, research suggests that gender differences play a role in math anxiety. Although young girls perform well in basic math skills, they are still subject to gender stereotypes and often lack confidence in their math abilities. This stereotype often contributes to women’s math anxiety and reduces their participation in the field of mathematics.
Such gender differences make it imperative that educators work to eliminate stereotypes in mathematics and thereby boost math confidence for all students.
In teaching practice, teachers' mathematical knowledge and teaching methods will also affect students' mathematical anxiety. Research shows that teachers who lack a mathematics background will find it difficult to design effective teaching plans, which will directly affect students’ motivation and learning outcomes.
Finally, one of the most effective ways to reduce math anxiety is to focus on the learning process rather than the end result. By giving students the opportunity to share their thinking processes and learn from their mistakes, teachers can effectively reduce students' math anxiety.
In the future of education, we should pay attention to the impact of math anxiety on learning in order to create a more friendly and supportive learning environment for students. So, how would you help your child overcome math anxiety at home or in school? Woolen cloth?
