I agree that there are lots of contributing factors to Maths anxiety. Certainly the continuing testing builds anxiety but the number of adults/ parents that believe that saying “I’m not very good at maths” and not feel ashamed or embarrassed has given our youth a massive get out clause so that they don’t have to worry about really trying.
This is compounded by the way the subject is taught and then continually tested leaves students incredibly anxious about what is a fantastic subject.
This is compounded by the way the subject is taught and then continually tested leaves students incredibly anxious about what is a fantastic subject.
Although I am a new teacher, in the UK, I see students that have given up on Maths a long time ago and have no desire to succeed meaning that they enter college with a need to sit a remedial class or an adult numeracy class eventually.
Is there a single answer? I think that the straight answer to this has to be no. Dylan William says that the only reason that we give students a mark is because we have a spreadsheet or mark book that needs filling in. I have been turning my classroom into a practical based environment. Similar to Art and Design and Technology where instead of standing at the front of the class and using the interactive whiteboard all the time I can demonstrate around a grouped table the skills and problems faced by either using paper, multilink cubes, paper plates or even a bar of chocolate.
I have broken away from the traditional and spend many hours preparing these practical demonstrations and tasks so that the students can learn and develop skills from. Maths is a subject that doesn’t need these continued tests to see a pupils ability. Designing a poster or creating a lesson plan based on things that they have learnt is far more valuable then telling a student they failed because they didn’t achieve a certain percentage! Pupils also feel less pressured about these forms of assessment as they don’t see it as one.
