No such thing as a ‘non-maths person’

Last week’s return to school will see New Zealand students facing the familiar challenge of learning mathematics. I always enjoyed mathematics at school (and still do) but I’m mindful that not everyone shares my enthusiasm.

For some, the mere thought of engaging with mathematics triggers emotional and physical symptoms of stress, a phenomenon now known as maths anxiety. This heightened apprehension poses a significant obstacle to students’ learning experiences, impacting their academic abilities in profound ways.

Math anxiety is not a made-up mental struggle; it’s evident in brain scans. One study, When Math Hurts, showed there is increased activity in regions of the brain associated with threat detection when maths-anxious students anticipate tackling mathematical problems.

The anticipation of engaging with maths becomes an uncomfortable and at times painful experience, erecting a barrier that students must overcome before delving into mathematical concepts. It’s important to understand that it’s the anticipation of doing mathematics, not the actual action of doing mathematics, that causes the distress.

Addressing maths anxiety is complex and challenging. Maths anxiety is contagious and is especially prone to being transmitted from adults to children. Young minds absorb stress from their surroundings, perpetuating a cycle of apprehension.

Moreover, one experience that triggers maths anxiety can damage future maths performance triggering further anxiety, creating a spiral effect that hinders success in subsequent tasks. Maths-anxious adults are also at heightened risk of passing their anxiety to their own children, perpetuating the issue through generations – maths anxiety is a heritable condition. We should all avoid saying things like “I was never very good at maths” or “I hated maths at school”.

The effects can be long-lasting – can even last a lifetime. Students who suffer from maths anxiety will, naturally, try to avoid the need to do maths. This severely limits their career options.

Don’t let the above get you down. There are things that we can do both to help maths-anxious students and to break the inter-generational cycle of maths anxiety.

Don’t buy into the myth of the ‘maths person‘

There is a common, and very counterproductive, notion that one is either a ‘math person’ or not, and if you are not a maths person then you simply cannot learn maths. The ‘maths person’ myth is nonsense. It’s true that some have an exceptional brain for maths, but we’ve somehow got the idea that if you aren’t exceptional at maths you can’t do it at all. All students can learn maths and excel with good teaching and practice. Reshaping our attitudes toward maths will go a long way toward helping them do so

Students struggling with the stress of new material can forget how far they’ve come already. By revisiting a concept they have mastered in the past, students can recognise the advances they’ve made. Teachers (and parents) could consider giving them an old test or assignment that would have challenged them a couple of years ago, to remind them of how much better they are at solving this type of problem.

Students also benefit from being reminded that math is a skill that needs consistent practice and dedication, not unlike learning how to swim or play a musical instrument, or football or tennis etc. Nobody would expect to pick up a musical instrument or a tennis racket and expect to be able to play without learning or practice.

When we talk about maths we need to talk about the need for effort and the idea that it can take time to learn, that it is perfectly reasonable to ask for help, and they will find it a rewarding subject.Maths is built one layer at a time and fluency with the basic layers is one of the best ways to prevent the development of maths anxiety later on. Building fluency both builds confidence and also frees up mental capacity to use on understanding new material.

If, for instance, you have mastered your times tables so well that you don’t have to think twice about what six times eight is, you have more space in your brain to grapple with new things, such as percentages and algebra. By steadily building fluency, students develop the problem-solving skills that will help them address many of the challenges life is likely to present.