In this week’s WimTeach, Mathu Abimanju and Harriet Fordy explore the concept of Maths anxiety.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing increase of social media usage, mental health disorders such as anxiety are on the rise. Mental Health UK believes that “1 in 10 of us will be living with an anxiety disorder at any one time,” [1] meaning about 8 million people in the UK currently facing this on a daily basis. With the pressure of excellent exam results, university applications and navigating your way through adolescence, it is no surprise that anxiety disorder is becoming more evident in schools across the country. There are many different types of anxiety disorder but one that often goes under the radar is Maths anxiety. In this blog we are going to look at the cause and consequence of Maths anxiety and what can we do as teachers to provide the correct tools to help students overcome it.
What is Maths Anxiety?
It is very common in our society for people to have strong negative beliefs about their Mathematical ability and the phrase ‘I cannot do Maths’ is commonly used by both adults and children. English and Maths are seen as the two core subjects for students at school and are looked for, to GCSE level, by employers in a large variety of jobs. For this reason, a lot of emphasis is put on these two subjects and there is a lot of pressure on students to achieve. As a result, some students don’t just see Maths as a challenge, but it can cause them high levels of anxiety and stress. It is normal to feel nervous or worried as it is our body’s natural reaction to stressful situation, but anxiety disorder is when these feelings continue for long periods of time and it affects everyday life. Maths anxiety is defined as “a feeling of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems” [2]. Maths anxiety is not linked to intelligence or academic achievement but can have a dramatic effect on a student’s achievement in a high-pressure situation such as an assessment or exam. Not only does it make concentrating a struggle, cause a cloudy mind and nausea, but it can cause students to avoid situations which involve Maths altogether. This further escalates the problem as they become demotivated and avoid revision, leading to worse results and increases levels of anxiety further and the cycle continues. When we spoke to a 6th form student she described the high levels of anxiety she felt not only when sitting a Maths assessment but when faced with a difficult problem in the classroom, she described the panic that lead to her mind going blank, being unable to recall key skills which she had learnt previously and overtime led to results that did not reflect her ability and a lack of self-belief.
How can we make Maths more inclusive in the classroom?
In order to make the classroom a more inclusive environment it is important that tools are implemented throughout the school which reduce the levels of anxiety so that all students have the same opportunity to make progress. It has been suggested by Ashcraft, (2002 cited in Craig Barton [3]) that timed tests can be a factor causing Maths anxiety. The author mentions, if we take something as simple as a times table calculation, this can take longer for a student who may use a method to calculate it, when compared to a student who remembers it ‘instantly’. From our experience we have seen that ‘open book’ tests have allowed students to solve a problem without being ‘anxious’ about remembering everything they have studied, as they have the chance to look back at their notes. Doing timed practice in lessons also has a positive effect, as students familiarise themselves and this will ‘normalise’ the idea of doing a test.
It can be gratifying when you struggle on a question and then solve it, it’s like a light bulb moment and you feel rewarded. There are many forms of reward in the classroom such as positive praise, giving out stickers or stamps for excellent work and sending post cards home. Praise is particularly significant as it gives specific and immediate feedback to students. It allows students to learn formatively rather than being given a score or a number which tells them nothing. Craig Barton suggests that the praise should be ‘sincere’ and “emphasize process not ability” [3]. Praise and encouragement could therefore lead to a reduction in students’ anxiety around Maths, as they start to have more belief in their ability, starting a positive spiral.
OneNote has played a key role in making Maths in the classroom more inclusive. Students can refer to specific parts of the lesson when they need to and feel they do not need to copy down every single detail, enabling them to engage fully with the lesson. Getting students to do work on whiteboards is another useful way, as they can rub their work out and start again which can result in gained confidence and encourage the students that it is OK to make mistakes and start again when solving a Maths problem.
Having clubs or drop-in sessions available for students to attend can be reassuring, as they feel supported if they need help outside of lesson time. The Hans Woyda club has been a great way to challenge, stretch and nurture students’ passion for Maths, as it allows time to make mistakes, fail, and most importantly not give up!
Maths till 18?
Studying Maths until the age of 18 posed by Rishi Sunak [4] ties in with this topic quite closely. Whilst this has a lot of benefits such as having more opportunities of higher paid jobs and developing numeracy skills that could be used in real life situations. This also has some disadvantages. When discussing this topic during a training day, one of the risks was the potential demotivation of students when Maths is not their chosen subject, and additionally the increased attention on Maths may shift the attention from other subjects. If Maths becomes compulsory until 18 it prolongs the amount of time that students who experience anxiety around Maths spend studying it, potentially further increasing the problem, especially if the Maths is of a higher level. How could we make Maths more fun and inclusive for those that may find it more challenging?
Conclusion:
Different approaches work for different classes, so first we need to know what works best for our class and how we can make the atmosphere more positive with the focus being on the learning rather than ‘how good am I at Maths?’
Bibliography:
[1] Mental Health UK. What is Anxiety Disorder. https://mentalhealth-uk.org/help-and-information/conditions/anxiety-disorders/what-is-anxiety/
[2] Ashcraft, M. H. (2002). Math Anxiety: Personal, Educational, and Cognitive Consequences. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5), 181-185. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00196
[3] Barton, Craig, How I wish I’d Taught Maths, Learning Sciences International, 2018.
[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-sets-ambition-of-maths-to-18-in-speech