Addressing Math's Vicious Circle for Your Kid's Sake

As a former teacher and elementary school administrator, many thoughts hit home when I read this article.  I taught 3rd, 5th and special ed. Younger, more impressionable kids were my focus, but also their parents and my peers. I heard countless confessions from moms, dads, and fellow teachers about their mathematical shortcomings and how they struggle with the subject themselves.  They share these feelings with their kids thinking it brings comfort, but I see the exact opposite.  

As a full fledged grown up, you have every right to feel the way you do about math. You have the experience to back it up and it is your opinion based on the trials and tribulations of your education. For our friends still in the thick of it, anxiety results leading to math issues, or is it math issues that lead to anxiety?  Let's keep your feelings under your hat so the kids can navigate the course to their future.

Researchers conclude that the math performance-anxiety relationship is bidirectional. That is, poor performance can lead to anxiety, and anxiety can lead to poor performance, thus creating a vicious circle.

So there you go, the classic chicken and the egg arguement as it applies to math. I will let the professionals hammer that out, however, what I will suggest is doing your part to cast positivity on the subject. Studies have shown that the very people kids probably spend 80% of their day with are the ones with the biggest influence on their math anxiety. 

Several studies in India and the United States suggest math anxiety is learned—not from personal experience but from parents and teachers. The Indian study found that when parents with high math anxiety tried to help their children with their homework, they unintentionally conveyed the idea that math is difficult and anxiety-provoking. The American study found that the level of math anxiety first-graders reported depended on how math-phobic their teacher was. In other words, children read the subtle body cues of their elders to determine whether math is something to fear—or to feel good about.

At our Mathnasium center we have been extremely successful in decreasing math anxiety for our mathletes. Just stating "it is hard" shows empathy, but it doesn't fix the problem. Only seeking help can change the direction they are headed.

We help kids from elementary school, to middle school, pre-algebra, algebra, integrated math, geometry and more. Math builds on itself, so the answer to decreasing anxiety is to make math make sense and grow from there.

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/talking-apes/201703/how-overcome-math-anxiety