Math Anxiety is a major problem for a lot of kids across US and even across the World. What is the opposite of Math Anxiety though? Is it Math Confidence? And if Math Anxiety can hamper math learning outcomes, can Math Confidence improve them?
Confidence Is Key
"Yes!" says a research paper titled "Confidence is Key: unlocking the relations between ADHD symptoms and math performance." This relatively recent research paper (2020), suggests that people with ADHD may lack confidence in their academic skills, and that addressing this lack of confidence could help support people with ADHD symptoms in academic settings.
Some other key findings -
- Women reported higher literacy confidence than math confidence whereas men reported higher math than literacy confidence.
- People enrolled in Arts programs reported higher levels of literacy confidence than math confidence, whereas people enrolled in Science programs reported higher levels of math confidence than literacy confidence.
This also tends to suggest that University students who are anxious about Math tend to avoid coursework and career paths involving Mathematics. And kids with ADHD tend to have lesser confidence in their own Academic abilities, including Math; so building up that confidence can be helpful.
Building Math Confidence
How do we then build Math Confidence? Another research paper suggests several steps.
Finlayson (2014) suggests the constructivist style of teaching which
emphasizes these main ideas:
- “Begin with the whole – expanding to parts
- Pursuit of student questions/interests
- Primary sources/manipulative materials
- Learning is interaction – building on what students already know
- Instructor interacts/negotiates with students
- Assessment via student works, observations, points of view, tests. Process is as important as product
- Knowledge is dynamic/change with experiences
- Students work in groups”
This can work for a lot of kids and must be used in conjunction with noting each child's different needs. (for e.g. Autistic kids might find it difficult to work in groups or have Math Talks)
It also notes that Math Anxiety is also often transferred from teacher to student (and maybe even parent to child) -
However, frequently the problems in the classroom that cause math anxiety are due to a teacher with math anxiety (Chernoff & Stone, 2014). These teachers choose the easiest ways of teaching (rote memorization of formulas, practice using one method to get one right answer, timed tests, etc.) in order to minimize their own math anxiety, not realizing that they are passing their own anxiety onto their students (Chernoff & Stone, 2014).
Therefore, we must first remove math anxiety from teachers, so they may teach their students not to experience math anxiety. Math is not inherently frightening, but that is the message that is told to many children, even from
their parents and teachers.
In a nutshell, Parents or Teachers having Math Confidence and willingness to work with kids in the way they need, can have a significant impact on whether the child develops Math Confidence or Math Anxiety.
If you are a parent reading this - and you have Math Anxiety - it might really help your child if you can work on that first; or at least be conscious of it when speaking to your child about Math.
Therapy
The research paper also suggests that therapy can be a way to address Math Anxiety, before building Math confidence.
A Synthesis on How to Reduce Math Anxiety
- Psychological Techniques like anxiety management, desensitization, counseling, support groups, bibliotherapy, and classroom discussions.
- Once a student feels less fearful about math he/she may build their confidence by taking more mathematics classes.
- Most research shows that until a person with math anxiety has confronted this anxiety by some form of discussion/counseling no “best practices” in math will help to overcome this fear.
In general, if kids can look at Math and say "this doesn't look scary" - that can set them on a path to building more Math confidence.
Math Games
This is one more area where Math games could help kids. If kids are having fun while doing Math via Math games - it can help them build a positive association with Math. Which in-turn reduces their Math Anxiety and allows them to build more Math Confidence.
Research supports this - kids learning Math via Math Games develop significantly more confidence and self-efficacy compared to those on traditional instruction.
While a pedagogically sound Math game is better (so kids also learn while they play) than something that's not, it's really important that the game is fun. The more fun kids have while playing the game, the more open they can be to doing the Math bits.
Games like Monster Math also go a step ahead and build in other best practices (showing Math visually, using digital manipulatives, reducing language dependency, etc), so not only are kids building a positive association with Math, they are also laying a stronger foundation for future Math learning. And since it is designed to be neuroinclusive, it can work very well to develop Math Confidence for Kids with ADHD and Autism as well.
Summary
- It is important to develop Math Confidence and reduce Math Anxiety, in parallel to developing kids' Math Skills.
- Constructivist model of teaching can be more useful in developing Math Confidence.
- Positive outlook towards Math from Parents and Teachers, Anxiety Therapy and Math Games could be potential ways for kids to overcome Anxiety and develop Math Confidence.
