Math occupies every aspect of our lives, from succeeding in school to paying bills or buying vegetables. The subject is so tightly woven into our day-to-day activities that some people don’t even notice it.
But what seems okay for you and me may cause a surge of anxiety with your kid. So what to do then? Unfortunately, just an adult’s word won’t solve the problem. Instead, it requires methodological work — it’s where five working tips to overcome math anxiety step in. But wait, there’s more: Brighterly mathematics tutors are always ready to help your kid with their struggle!
What causes math anxiety?
The causes of math anxiety can vary. These are some of the most widely spread reasons to list:
- Pressure from being judged for how quickly and accurately a child produces the answer.
- Negative past experiences, for example, being humiliated for a wrong solution.
- Cultural bias produced by the media, gender, or cultural superstitions, which assume that someone has lower math abilities.
Although not commonly discussed, math anxiety is quite widely spread among kids. Here’s some stunning statistics as presented by Bhagyashree:
Math anxiety was identified in 34.6% of students, while 35.1% said that anxiety affected their ability to perform academically. Simultaneously, 25% of children report having moderate to severe anxiety issues. Moreover, 82% of students in grades 7 through 10 were reported to be scared of math.
Math anxiety interventions for kids
These are anxiety interventions to help in overcoming math phobia:
- Ensure your kid practices regularly — little and often exercises are your best allies.
- Make sure that all the adults working with your child know about their mathematical anxiety.
- Keep math practices encouraging and engaging.
- Teach them to ask questions about what they don’t understand to get clarification.
- Implement math into everyday life.
- Limit any instances of your anxiety.
- Let your child share their thoughts about their fear of math.
- Remain calm with any instances of anxiety.
As a parent, you can do a great job to help your kid tackle symptoms of math anxiety. However, the teacher’s approach is equally important. When you choose a tutor for your kid, ensure they are also somewhat of a psychologist. Brighterly is that place that has gathered some of the greatest teachers ready to develop a tailored approach to your kid.
These tutors do not just develop lessons according to your kid’s needs (although they do it too). They also take note on all their special conditions and requirements, including math anxiety, and take sufficient steps to eliminate any burdens that hinder the child from learning.
Sounds right for your kid? Try out all the benefits of Brighterly tutoring during a demo lesson.
Tips for managing math anxiety
To overcome math or science anxiety, it is important to:
- Teach your kid to study smart
- Help them get organized
- Make sure they don’t miss math classes
- Keep testing them
- Focus on the positive self-talk
Teach your kid to study smart
Remember this: if your child suffers from math anxiety, you should be flexible and patient enough to find the very approach best suited for them. You can investigate how to improve time management, what strategies to use for better note-taking, and what techniques they should employ to work with textbooks more productively.
Additionally, you can use this step-by-step approach on how to get over math anxiety developed by Andrew Fayad, CEO of ELM Learning:
- Create a supportive and nurturing environment where your kid will feel comfortable expressing their concerns without fear of judgment.
- Sprinkle in positivity by highlighting their progress and celebrating successes, no matter how small.
- Mix things up with interactive and engaging activities that make math fun and relatable — think games, puzzles, or real-life applications.
- Encourage a growth mindset, reminding them that mistakes are just opportunities to learn and grow stronger.
- Add a dash of humor to the mix. Laughter can be the best medicine to ease tension and build confidence.
Help them get organized
Did you know that the fear of math phobia can be caused by disorganization? Yes, those notes and textbooks do matter. Make sure that they are properly written with all vocabulary, formulas, and theorems listed at their convenience.
Make sure they don’t miss math classes
The fact is that combating math anxiety symptoms requires a better grasp of the subject. To succeed, your child needs to attend their classes strictly and take extracurricular lessons, like those provided by Brighterly.
Keep testing them
Combating math anxiety in children requires identifying their weaknesses and putting special pressure to master those points. That’s why you should employ regular testing. How well does your kid perform on the current topic? Have they mastered their past knowledge? Try to answer these.
Help them focus on the positive self-talk
Developing positive thinking is half a battle. Tell them, “You can succeed in math,” “You can master equations.” Although reducing math anxiety isn’t easy, positivity does a colossal work towards success.
What can be done before learning a new mathematical concept to reduce math anxiety?
To reduce math anxiety before learning a new concept, one can do the following:
- Review the previous knowledge and make sure the child has a good grasp of it
- Encourage them to talk out their feeling and fears
- Seek help from their teacher
- Establish positive thinking
To deal with math anxiety, you should involve persistent subject mastery and psychological work. This is what Allie Szczecinsk discusses in her article.
- The pre-learning activities are as important as the learning itself. So. start with a little exercise or quiz. But here’s a trick: your kid must do well in it. The purpose is to boost their self-confidence.
- Use affirmations. No matter how silly it sounds, they do work!
- “I’m a humanitarian, not a math thinker.” Ever heard your child saying something like this? Having a math brain is a huge myth! So, show them success stories with people of all ages, genders, and life roads.
3 ways to reduce math anxiety for kids
These are the three strategies proven to be beneficial when coping with math anxiety:
- Focus on success
- Create a robust team with your child
- Avoid assessment anxiety
1. Focus on success
Throughout their studies, kids are constantly pressed by high standards. But if you’re wondering how to cope with math anxiety, the important advice would be to help them refocus on what they’ve already achieved. For example, you can ask them to complete an old worksheet. Use the method to show how much they’ve advanced from that time.
2. Create a robust team with your child
Make a good friend and a reliable tutor by showing your concern. If the kid refuses your help, just show them that you’ll be there whenever they need it. You can’t even imagine how much parents’ approach can facilitate children’s success.
3. Avoid assessment anxiety
Eventually, every kid has to undergo testing. For many, this evaluation looms as something scary and destructive. It’s crucial to rechannel this stress to help students with math anxiety. Limit your home talks about the assessments, and try to make the kid’s time before and after the test exciting — it helps to minimize the strain.
To Conclude
So, is math anxiety a real thing? It definitely is! It can cause any person — child or adult — to fear math-related tasks. As a result, they are scared of dealing with various day-to-day activities.
If your child faces the condition, do not hesitate to take decisive action. Actively employ the strategies we’ve discussed above. Plus, hire a reliable math tutor to make the studying as smooth as possible. Book a Brighterly lesson today to start combating math anxiety!