How to overcome Math Anxiety
October 7th, 2007 | by limeehai |Math anxiety is a situation everyone learning math should avoid. It hinders the progress of math education. When you have this anxiety, you tend to avoid math and anything related to math, example, counting, organising numbers, etc. It is detrimental and is spiral in effect. Lost of confidence in solving math question strengthen the weakness and gives assurance that you cannot do math. Remove or minimise this anxiety!
But how to?
First, you have to be aware that this math anxiety, from professional studies, comes from past experience when dealing with math. Example can be first math lesson with a nasty self-centred math teacher. And since past experience can be overidden with new positive experience, this math anxiety is curable. Replace this undesirable math anxiety with something positive.
Positive replacements can be clarifying math question till a satisfactory answer is obtained. Speak your mind for the sake of your math eduation and learning. Do not fear failure or rejection to obtain answer. Seek out as much answers to obstacles as possible. Why so? With more solution obtained, confidence to solve math questions will be strengthened. This will help reduce the fearful math anxiety. Knowing there is problem and not taking action is detrimental to your math learning. Take action and active action, not passive, being-prompted type of action. Attitude has to change towards learning math which will in turn arouse interest in the subject. Think positively to motivate yourself.
Boosting up your self-image is a way to reduce, if not remove, this math anxiety. Try all avenue to enhance yourself in this area. Be aware that learning through failure is very much an important process of education especially with math where the answer is a clear-cut right or wrong answer. Let the past go, and embrace new changes. This new change in learning attitude is door-opener to better result in math. Do not fear math. Relax and love math to overcome math anxiety.
Posted by: Lim Ee Hai
Source http://www.limeehai.com
2 Responses to “How to overcome Math Anxiety”
By jesie on Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
Good tips for students with math anxiety. I know how to tell tutees to remain calm and do some math questions everyday which I did the same as a student. However, I never fully understand why they continue to have anxiety.
By Lim Ee Hai on Jan 3, 2008 | Reply
It takes time to really overcome math anxiety as in any type of anxiety. It is a behavioural change to need to be monitored. But with effort, and small incremental change, one will definitely conquer this anxiety. Be patience with anyone having sign of math anxiety.