Mathematical anxiety is the feeling of tension and fear that many people experience when asked to calculate a sum. For children, it can cause behavioral problems in class, as well as physical symptoms such as a cold in the belly and a racing heart.
Students with high mathematical anxiety perform worse on standardized math tests and school exams. Anxious thoughts interfere in remembering facts and procedures related to mathematics and also in the proper execution of these procedures. This is often described as the experience of having an empty mind.
Our new research shows that mathematical anxiety not only affects children’s performance on tests, but also affects their ability to learn new mathematical concepts and procedures in the classroom.
Initial starts
We introduced more than 200 six-year-old students in the UK and Italy to mathematics that they had not studied in school before. This included additions with dozens and using the less than and greater signs.
Children’s knowledge of these mathematical concepts and procedures was measured before teaching, immediately after and one week later. We found that children who were most concerned with mathematics generally started with a lower level of relevant knowledge. But most importantly, these children learned less from the training sessions. This was demonstrated in his performance immediately after the training session and one week later.
In other words, our study shows that students who are anxious about math not only struggle during exams, but actually learn less math in school than students who are not anxious with the same educational opportunities.
Another important finding in our research concerns the age of children. Our participants were only six years old. Other studies have found that children at such a young age already experience mathematical anxiety, but there has been debate over whether it would affect young children’s math performance in any way. Our studies clearly show that anxiety about mathematics has an impact at this age.
If mathematical anxiety reduces learning from the beginning of school, the implication is that mathematical anxiety can lead to cumulative gaps in knowledge over the school years. Not surprisingly, students who feel anxious about math can finish school with lower math scores and avoid career choices in intensive math fields.
Lifelong impact
But the implications of mathematical anxiety go far beyond school. People who are concerned with mathematics may also have difficulties in their daily lives, such as making worse decisions about their finances and health.
An example is when people are uncomfortable interpreting statistics and graphs related to the effects of COVID-19 and yet they need to make lifestyle choices based on that information.
Other forms of anxiety, as well as procrastination, avoidance of challenges and low levels of self-confidence and self-esteem are also common among people with mathematical anxiety. In general, mathematical anxiety can have a strong impact on people’s success and satisfaction with life.
This requires early assessment and intervention. However, just as it is possible to improve the mathematical performance of students with difficulties, it is also possible to overcome mathematical anxiety.
Parents and teachers can transmit negative attitudes and anxiety towards mathematics. Some intervention approaches focus on increasing parents’ confidence in their own ability to help their children learn math and providing them with ideas for fun math games that can be played at home.
Computer programs and applications are also recommended for practicing math. An advantage of this approach is that computers offer a motivating, attractive and non-judgmental environment for the practice of some essential skills and can be used without the contribution of trained professionals.
Other research suggests that drawing students’ attention to earlier situations in which they overcame challenges in their math learning can increase self-confidence and lead to more positive attitudes and less anxiety. In fact, high levels of mathematical anxiety are not always associated with low levels of performance. The problem is that people with high levels of anxiety are unable to reach their full potential. Practicing math with a tutor can also reduce anxiety.
Although mathematical anxiety is linked to a number of negative consequences, there are many ways for people to deal with their anxiety and avoid these negative results. However, an even better option is to prevent the development of mathematical anxiety. Our research suggests that efforts to develop positive attitudes towards mathematics must begin in the early years of school, or even earlier.
This article is written by Kinga Morsanyi, Senior Professor in Mathematical Cognition, Loughborough University; Carlo Tomasetto, Associate Professor in Developmental and Educational Psychology, Università di Bologna; Paddy O’Connor, Professor (Education), Queen’s University Belfast, and Veronica Guardabassi, Researcher in Educational and Developmental Psychology, Università di Bologna, is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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