Math Confidence

Confidence is a valuable notion. It is defined as, “a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities.” Why is it such an important aspect of education, especially with mathematics? The reason is simple, confidence exudes confidence! When there is a confidence in one area, it leads to an overall confidence.

We all know that confidence in life is important, this idea is true with school, and even more so with math. This is not because math is more important than any other subject, but instead because gaining math confidence is more difficult. According to a study preformed by Lazar Stankov of singteach,”…confidence is a much better predictor of students’ achievements than any other non-cognitive measure.”

It is no surprise that math is not a subject area many students enjoy. Many times this resentment turns into a feeling of discomfort with the subject entirely, snowballing into a feeling of self-doubt. Unlike other subject areas, we cannot pick and choose what areas of math to teach first. It needs to be a very linear process, simply because in its’ nature math expands on previously learnt concepts. We cannot learn multiplication without first learning addition. This is where confidence comes into play. A lack of confidence many times comes from a lack of understanding, and when one area is not understood it is almost impossible to learn the next step in the math sequence.

There is good news though, gaining back confidence is not impossible. The key lies with the natural structure of math. Since it is linear all we need are the basics. Fundamental skills like adding to 10, multiplication, and fractional sense, can be all we need to turn a student who hates math, into one who tolerates it. I have seen a student go from a C to an A in 5th Grade math simply by learning these aspects.

Finally, there is the last part of the process, maintaining this confidence. As my mother used to say, perfect practice makes perfect. This does not mean doing every problem correct, what it means is doing the right type of work. If we are learning a new area and are having difficulty it is sometimes better to work backwards instead of forwards. Try to isolate what is the main issue, is it a problem with understanding context, or with a related concept. Perfect practice also means not just the minimum. Challenge yourself, do something that will make you think. Many times you will get this question wrong, but that is perfectly fine. Many times you learn understanding why you made a mistake, rather than easily working through a set of problems. There is always success in failure, sometimes you just have to look for it.

It is amazing how many students I work with whose main issue stems from confidence. It also amazes me how a small boost in math confidence translates to a boost in the rest of the subject areas. Just by going back, and re-learning key fundamentals a student can change their entire outlook on math, and school overall. Confidence exudes confidence!