Transcript The Application to Numeracy of Social Science Research

Learned Math Phobia: The impact on
children of parents' and educators'
attitude towards mathematics
William Devine, MA, LPC
MathFour.com
Math Anxiety - What is it?
"Math anxiety is commonly defined as a
feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear
that interferes with math performance.”
(Ashcraft, 2002)
Shown to have a significant positive
correlation with academic and test
anxiety
DSM-V (proposed)
Dyscalculia
• “Difficulties in production or comprehension
of quantities, numerical symbols, or basic
arithmetic operations that are not consistent
with the person's chronological age,
educational opportunities, or intellectual
abilities.”
• “…significantly interferes with academic
achievement or activities of daily living
that require these numerical skills.”
Math Anxiety (cont’d)
• Negative impact
– Taxes working memory
• Acts as a secondary task
– Math aversive => avoid math
• Fear of wrong answer => decreased attempts =>
learning is stalled
– Fewer upper level math classes taken
– In college, leads to the eventual limitation of job
and career possibilities
– Cycle is perpetuated
• Mom, Dad, teachers pass it on
Math Anxiety (cont’d)
• Negative Impact (cont’d)
– "To protect self-worth, students who are uncertain
about their ability to achieve competitively may
develop strategies that deflect attention from their
ability.” (Turner et. al., 2002)
– “'My body language said I can’t do it’, 'my hands
sweat’, 'I wanted to crawl under the desk’, 'I felt
frustrated’, 'sometimes I just refused to attempt a
new concept'.” (Allen, 2010)
Sources of Math Anxiety
• Fear of others’ reactions
– scolding (teacher)
– punishment or disappointment (parents)
– embarrassment (peers)
• Fear of failure
– making a mistake or doing it differently is NOT ok
• Pressure of performance
– Abilities seen as natural, not necessarily
“learnable”
– Implication of poor aptitude
– Implication of inabilities
Sources of Math Anxiety
• "A substantial portion of the adult
population seems nervous or reluctant
to pursue mathematical activity, often
feeling that they will simply not be able
to do it.” (Stodolsky, 1985)
Social and Interactive
Influences
• Society - you’re either good at math, or you’re
not.
• Parents - Go ask your father, I was never any
good at that stuff.
• Teachers - No, Billy, that’s not the way we do
it.
– “Math instruction dominantly assumes only one
way to learn: teacher presentation followed by
practice.” (Stodolsky, 1985)
• The student - I’m trying really hard, why does
she get mad at me?
Far Reaching Impact
• "High levels appeared in remedial mathematics and
declined with more advanced study. Mathematics and
science majors were predictably low in the construct.
The highest levels occurred for students preparing to
teach in elementary school.” (Hembree, 1990)
• “This issue is of major concern to our economy, to a
child’s future employment and their success in higher
education.” “Creating a country of mathophobes does
not bode well for us in the uncertain global economy
of the future.” (Geist, 2010)
WHAT to Change
– Negative to Positive Influences
• It’s ok to be wrong
• Talking about math early on
– It’s all around us, not just in the classroom
• Expressing the positive
– Awareness of parent and teacher effects
• Promoting creativity and autonomy in children’s
exploration of math
• "The words of the interviewees emphasized the fact that
a caring teacher in a supportive environment who uses
multiple teaching strategies to address the needs of all
students is the best remedy for reducing math anxiety.”
(Tchibozo, 2010)
HOW to Change
• Bringing together knowledge and mainstream
support
– Knowledge
• Of what to do informed by experience AND the research
– Support
• From those in positions to spread informed awareness
– Awareness
• To court AND inform the public
How to Change (cont’d)
• Knowledge
– The use of experience AND research in informing
the direction of improving numeracy
• Addressing math anxiety as a part of this
– Research on:
• working memory
• scaffolding
• supportive learning environments
– In the school
– At home
– With other children
• motivation and autonomy
• it’s already there
How to Change (cont’d)
• Awareness
– Numeracy campaign
• What would an effective one look like?
– It’s already started… kind of
• Talk of need for improvement in STEM
– (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
– How do we use the momentum of STEM
movement to push a community-assisting
agenda regarding math anxiety?
Other Change Topics
– Training for teachers
• Instructional vs. Behavioral/motivational support
– Tap the motivation
• Use the momentum of the child’s interest
– Help working memory
• “Being able to increase, at virtually no cost, children’s
ability to retain and manipulate information therefore
offers promising prospects for application in education.”
(Autin, 2012)
– Offering truly instructional texts to teachers
– Supporting changes conducive to creating an
environment where these things can happen.
Works Cited
Ashcraft, M. H., (2002). Math anxiety, personal, educational, cognitive
consequences. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5), 181-185.
Autin, F., & Croizet, J.-C. (2012, March 5). Improving Working Memory Efficiency by
Reframing Metacognitive Interpretation of Task Difficulty. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General.
Geist, E. (2010). The Anti-Anxiety Curriculum: Combating Math Anxiety in the
Classroom. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 37(1), 24-31.
Hembree, R. (1990). The nature, effects, and relief of mathematics anxiety. Journal
for Research in Mathematics Education, 21, 33-46.
Stodolsky, S. S. (1985). Telling Math: Origins of Math Aversion and Anxiety.
Educational Psychologist, 20(3), 125-133.
Tchibozo, G., ed. (2010), Proceedings of the 2nd Paris International Conference on
Education, Economy and Society, Vol. 1, Strasbourg (France): Analytrics
Turner, J.C., et.al. (2002). The Classroom Environment and Students’ Reports of
Avoidance Strategies in Mathematics. Journal of Educational Psychology 94(1),
88-106.