In May the following Math Resource was added to the LINCS Resource Collection, Overcoming Math Anxiety This resource is a webinar presented by one of our community members, Cynthia Bell. So many of our adult learners suffer from Math Anxiety and perhaps a few practitioners, too. I want to encourage you to go watch this webinar and then respond to these questions:
1. What is one thing that you learned about Math Anxiety?
2. What was something that challenged the way you thought about Math Anxiety?
I won't respond with my thoughts until a few of you have had time to post your thoughts, first!
Enjoy!
Brooke
Comments
Okay, the first 7:25 are promotions of conferences, essential ed materials, etc. 9:48 we get to her and her screen and the actual webinar -- so if you don't have an hour you needn't take an hour :) (However, talking really fast about anxiety is crazy-making so I don't recommend speeding things up ;))
Important to note that yes, high achievers can also have anxiety w/ the pressure to "be the smart one."
Interesting to describe the brain effects of PTSD & OCD ... I have to remind myself that yes, lots of people may *not* realize that math anxiety is an "official, real thing."
She talks about how important it is not to be powerless, but so much of her language is "it's not your fault! It's your brain!" which ... is pretty powerless-sounding... but I think it's the context of validating that the anxiety is a real thing.
I love the idea of the "mathematical freedom" and the positive learning environment. I just read a post by a teacher who switched to a very conceptual, growth mindset curriculum... she only got through the first 4 (of 6 or 7 I think) units but she'd taught them deeply and it was all about approaching math thoughtfully and mastering it... instead of algorithmically... and her student test scores were awesome at the end of the year. I have always *suspected* that sutdnets would do better even at stuff they didn't "know" if they understood oh, things like ratios (especially since they've probably been "taught" lots of it but procedurally and unsuccessfully) *and* if they had a positive learning environment and practice thinking 'creatively' about math.