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HOW TO HANDLE ANXIETY IN MATHEMATICS


We have often met students who were intrinsically fearful of maths. The subject terrified them, gave them anxiety attacks and destroyed their self-esteem. This fear seems to be quite widespread in adults too, including parents and teachers.

Its is a matter of concern that till grade 4, students seem to love and enjoy maths but as soon as they enter the world of abstract concepts like fractions, decimals, percentages, confusion sets in and they feel more and more helpless in succeeding in the subject. Added to that are incidents of continuous lack of success in solving maths problems accompanied by poor guidance from teachers and intense competition in a classroom, which actually diminishes the self confidence of students.

Students with maths anxiety feel negative emotions when engaging in an activity that requires numerical or maths skills. In one of the studies carried out by researchers, when college students were informed that they would be asked to take a maths test, it triggered a stress response in students with high maths anxiety.

What actually happens when a student is anxious about his performance in maths is that the emotion of fear impairs logical thinking and problem solving skills. The amygdala which is the emotional centre of the brain, first processes the information when taking in a problem and then prioritizes information going to the prefrontal cortex, which focusses on critical thinking. When a student gets anxious, there is more activity in the amygdala than the prefrontal cortex and this reduces his ability to  remember, analyze and respond accurately. It is almost as if all the brain activity gets centred on worrying instead of cognitive processing.

How can we help our children deal with this anxiety and excel in their maths ability ?

The first step towards this is to help them improve their concentration and focus. Secondly, the pedagogical approaches in maths have to move away from memorizing procedures, rules and routines and focus on conceptual understanding through activities and projects. Finding maths in simple magic trics can improve students’ interest and focus. Drawing relevance from real life connections is absolutely essential. Students should be taken from simple to complex concepts and encouraged to ask questions. The teachers need to underemphasize mistakes and instead help them learn through their mistakes. Supplying them with correct answers without allowing them to explore is “not” a good practice.

Self-introspection skills have to be inculcated enabling students to actually discuss their fears and figure out the causes of their anxiety.

Regular practice is extremely important for constant reinforcement of the concepts.

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