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Research shows math anxiety ends in poor test performance
KRISTEN SHAW For The Red & Black
Issue date: 4/30/07 Section: News
Many students might say anxiety about a class inhibits their ability to perform well. In the case of mathematics, they would be correct.
A growing field of psychological research says math anxiety can cause students of all levels to perform poorly in math, said University of Chicago researcher Sian Beilock.
Math anxiety is a specialized type of anxiety and is not unusual among college students. Seventy-five percent of those who suffer from some form of anxiety will do so before age 22, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
It is important to differentiate between having anxiety and a learning disorder, said University clinical psychology doctoral candidate Megan Benoit Ratcliff.
"If your IQ says you are able to perform well but your performance does not line up, then you may have a learning disorder," Ratcliff said. "However, if you can perform well when you put the time into the task and are not nervous, then it is anxiety."
Recent research and news coverage of math anxiety looks at how working memory is affected.
"Math anxiety - feelings of dread and fear and avoiding math - can sap the brain's limited amount of working capacity, a resource needed to compute difficult math problems," University of Nevada at Las Vegas psychologist Mark Ashcroft told Yahoo News.
Lori Leigh Alderman, a senior special education major from Suwanee, has learned the importance of quelling college students' fears during her time at the University.
"In one of my math education classes ... our teacher tried to calm students by telling them that his 5-year-old son learned the same topics as us with no trouble," Alderman said. "That frustrated everyone."
"I think if he had been more aware of the class' fears about math, he might have been able to use a different approach to change the morale in the classroom and make us more math-friendly," she said.
Math anxiety's causes are not known, but those who overcome it will preform normally.
Some key methods to conquering math anxiety center on not avoiding the problem.
"Our first instinct is to avoid the problem, which is the worst thing you can do," said Ratcliff. "Put in more effort and treat math like a foreign language."
Ratcliff also advised students to use University facilities that help with anxiety problems and learning disorders.
For more information, visit www.gotanxiety.org.
A growing field of psychological research says math anxiety can cause students of all levels to perform poorly in math, said University of Chicago researcher Sian Beilock.
Math anxiety is a specialized type of anxiety and is not unusual among college students. Seventy-five percent of those who suffer from some form of anxiety will do so before age 22, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
It is important to differentiate between having anxiety and a learning disorder, said University clinical psychology doctoral candidate Megan Benoit Ratcliff.
"If your IQ says you are able to perform well but your performance does not line up, then you may have a learning disorder," Ratcliff said. "However, if you can perform well when you put the time into the task and are not nervous, then it is anxiety."
Recent research and news coverage of math anxiety looks at how working memory is affected.
"Math anxiety - feelings of dread and fear and avoiding math - can sap the brain's limited amount of working capacity, a resource needed to compute difficult math problems," University of Nevada at Las Vegas psychologist Mark Ashcroft told Yahoo News.
Lori Leigh Alderman, a senior special education major from Suwanee, has learned the importance of quelling college students' fears during her time at the University.
"In one of my math education classes ... our teacher tried to calm students by telling them that his 5-year-old son learned the same topics as us with no trouble," Alderman said. "That frustrated everyone."
"I think if he had been more aware of the class' fears about math, he might have been able to use a different approach to change the morale in the classroom and make us more math-friendly," she said.
Math anxiety's causes are not known, but those who overcome it will preform normally.
Some key methods to conquering math anxiety center on not avoiding the problem.
"Our first instinct is to avoid the problem, which is the worst thing you can do," said Ratcliff. "Put in more effort and treat math like a foreign language."
Ratcliff also advised students to use University facilities that help with anxiety problems and learning disorders.
For more information, visit www.gotanxiety.org.
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posted 9/05/08 @ 2:40 AM EST
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posted 2/25/09 @ 11:49 AM EST
I remember my collage days and the math tests. I was always nervous. We had a very rigid professor. He wouldn't let us talk to each other or even turn around. (Continued…)
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