What all of these students are expressing is math anxiety, a feeling of intense frustration or helplessness about one’s ability to do math. What they did not realize is that their feelings about math are common to all of us to some degree. Even the best mathematicians are prone to anxiety – even about the very thing they do best and love most.

Mathematics anxiety has been defined as feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations. Math anxiety can cause one to forget and lose one’s self-confidence (Tobias, S., 1993).

Research confirms that the pressure of timed tests and the risk of public embarrassment have long been recognized as sources of unproductive tension among many students.

Three practices that are a regular part of the traditional mathematics classroom and cause great anxiety in many students are imposed authority, public exposure, and time deadlines.

We’ve probably all been at a restaurant with a group of people who want to pay individually, but only one bill arrives. You then find yourself in the position of trying to determine how much each person owes. What happens?

You look over the bill with a slight wave of panic at having to figure out your total, but instead, you say, “I’m no good at math” and you proceed to pass it to the next person who immediately responds the same way you did. Eventually and usually with some hesitancy, one person takes ownership over the bill and calculates the individual costs or divides the total by the number of people at the table. Did you notice how quickly people say that they were no good at math? Can you imagine a similar scenario but instead the person says “I’m no good at reading?” or “I can’t read?” When and why is it acceptable in our society to say we’re no good at math? We’d be embarrassed to declare that we’re no good at reading yet it’s quite acceptable in our society to say that we can’t do math!

In today’s information age, mathematics is needed more than it ever was before – we need math! Problem-solving skills are highly prized by employers today. There is an increasing need for math and the first step needed is a change in our attitudes and beliefs about math.

The fact is that mathematics has a tarnished reputation in our society. It is commonly accepted that math is difficult, obscure, and of interest only to “certain people,” i.e., nerds and geeks – not a flattering characterization. The consequence in many English- speaking countries, and especially in the United States, is that the study of math carries with it a stigma, and people who are talented at math or profess enjoyment of it are often treated as though they are not quite normal. Alarmingly, many school teachers – even those whose job it is to teach mathematics – communicate this attitude to their students directly or indirectly, so that young people are invariably exposed to an anti- math bias at an impressionable age.

Poor teaching leads to the inevitable idea that the subject (mathematics) is only adapted to peculiar minds when it is the one universal science and the one whose ground rules are taught to us almost in infancy and reappear in the motions of the universe. – H.J.S. Smith

Unfortunately, math anxiety is often due to poor teaching and poor experiences in math which typically leads to math anxiety. Many of the students I’ve encountered with math anxiety have demonstrated an overreliance on procedures in math as opposed to actually understanding the math. When one tries to memorize procedures, rules, and routines without much understanding, the math is quickly forgotten and panic soon sets in.

Think about your experiences with one concept – the division of fractions.  You probably learned about reciprocals and inverses. In other words, ‘It’s not yours to reason why just invert and multiply.

Think of math as memorizing all the procedures – what if you forget a few? Therefore, with this type of strategy, a good memory will help, but, what if you don’t have a good memory. Understanding math is critical. Once students realize they can do the math, the whole notion of math anxiety can be overcome. Instructors and parents have an important role to ensure students understand the math being presented to them.

Therefore, teaching methods must be re-examined.

Consequently, there should be more emphasis on teaching methods which include fewer lectures, more student-directed classes, and more discussion. Given the fact that many students experience math anxiety in the traditional classroom, instructors should design classrooms that will make students feel more successful.

Students must have a high level of success or a level of failure that they can tolerate. Therefore, incorrect responses must be handled in a positive way to encourage student participation and enhance student confidence.

Studies have shown students learn best when they are active rather than passive learners (Spikell, 1993). The theory of multiple intelligences addresses the different learning styles. Lessons are presented for visual/spatial, logical/mathematics, musical, body/kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal, and verbal/linguistic. Everyone is capable of learning but may learn in different ways. Therefore, lessons must be presented in a variety of ways. For example, different ways to teach a new concept can be through play-acting, cooperative groups, visual aids, hands-on activities, and technology. Learners are different than they were forty years ago. These learners today ask questions about why something is done this way or that way and why not this way? Whereas years ago learners did not question the why of math concepts; they simply memorized and mechanically performed the operations needed.

Students today have a need for practical math. Therefore, math needs to be relevant to their everyday lives. Students enjoy experimenting. To learn mathematics, students must be engaged in exploring, conjecturing, and thinking rather than, engaged only in rote learning of rules and procedures.

Students’ prior negative experiences in math class and at home when learning math is often transferred and cause a lack of understanding of mathematics. Millions of adults are blocked from professional and personal opportunities because they fear or perform poorly in mathematics. For many, these negative experiences remain throughout their adult lives.

Math is often associated with pain and frustration. For instance, unpaid bills, unforeseen debts, unbalanced checkbooks, and IRS forms are a few of the negative experiences associated with numbers. At home, parents should show how numbers are successfully used by them in positive, pleasant ways, such as in cooking, sewing, sports, problem-solving in hobbies, and home repairs.

Math must be looked upon in a positive light to reduce anxiety. A person’s state of mind has a great influence on his/her success. Many games are based on math concepts.

Some games that are beneficial to learners and are enjoyed are card-playing, Life, Yahtzee, Battleship, and Tangrams.

With all the tension and anxiety, math humor is greatly needed. Students of all ages enjoy cartoons and jokes. Cartoons may be used to introduce a concept or for class discussion.

Most students will master mathematical concepts and skills more readily if they are presented first in concrete, pictorial, and symbols. For example, manipulatives are concrete objects used to teach a concept. By using manipulatives, pictures, and symbols to model or represent abstract ideas, the stage is set for learners to understand the abstractions they represent. Students enjoy the change from lectures and books and they are more inclined to explore with manipulatives and show greater interest in classwork.

Cooperative groups provide students a chance to exchange ideas, ask questions freely, explain to one another, clarify ideas in meaningful ways, and express feelings about their learning. These skills acquired at an early age will be greatly beneficial throughout their adult working life.

Finally, young women continue to face an additional barrier to success in mathematics. Remarkably, even at the start of the 21st century, school-age girls are still discouraged by parents, peers, and teachers with the admonition that mathematics “just isn’t something girls do.” Before we became teachers, we would have assumed that such attitudes died out a generation ago, but now we know better. Countless of our female students have told how friends, family members, and even their junior and senior high school instructors impressed upon them the undesirability of pursuing the study of mathematics. Rank sexism such as this is only part of the problem. For all adolescents, but especially for girls, there is concern about how one is viewed by members of the opposite sex – and being a “geek” is not seen as the best strategy.

Peer pressure is the mortar in that wall. And parents, often even without knowing it, can facilitate this anxiety and help to discourage their daughters from maintaining an open mind and a natural curiosity toward the study of science and math.

In conclusion, math anxiety is very real and occurs among thousands of people. Much of this anxiety happens in the classroom due to the lack of consideration of the different learning styles of students. Today, the needs of society require a greater need for mathematics. Math must be looked upon in a positive light to reduce math anxiety. Therefore, instructors must re-examine traditional teaching methods which often do not match students’ learning styles and skills needed in society. Lessons must be presented in a variety of ways. For instance, a new concept can be taught through play-acting, cooperative groups, visual aids, hands-on activities, and technology. As a result, students learn to see math as fun, they will enjoy it, and, the joy of mathematics could remain with them throughout the rest of their lives.