Math Anxiety Can Be A Huge Barrier To Overcome - Don't Pass On Your Fear Of Math To Your Children

Robert Kirwan, B.A. (Math), M.A. (Education)
Independent Education & Career Planning Agent

 

 A father and his son came to see me the other day looking for a tutor. He said, “My son is in Grade 5 and he is having a lot of trouble with math. I was always terrible in math and hated it when I was in school, so I guess he is just the same as me. I want him to do better than I did in school. Can you help me?” 

ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION
  
   Shortly after the meeting began I asked the son to work out a few examples in a book I had in the office and took the father aside. I strongly suggested that despite his own hatred of math, it was critical to the success of his son that he NEVER, NEVER, again talk openly in front of his son about how hard it was for him to learn math when he was young or how it is so hard for him to understand concepts in math. Unfortunately, children latch on to the hang-ups of their parents, and if their mother or father had trouble learning math, then it is understandable and even expected that they will have trouble as well.
 
   Math anxiety affects up to 50% of the population, and yet basic numeracy skills are necessary in order to succeed in the world as we know it today.
We must reduce the math anxiety level among our young children, especially since research results coming out of Ontario indicate that kids, especially boys, begin to hate math at about Grade 3. This is largely because they become fearful of math and lose their self confidence.
 
   I pointed out to the father that to be numerate means that you are fluent with numbers, mathematical knowledge, problem solving and special sense. You must also be able to balance a chequebook, calculate a tip, measure the distance and volumes for household tasks. And yet, it is estimated that over 40% of the population has difficulty with these everyday tasks. The goal of every parent should be to make sure that their children are both literate and numerate.
 
   Werner Liedtke, an education professor specializing in math at the University of Victoria explained,
"The key part to numeracy is having a sense of numbers; what do they tell you, what do they mean; the sense of relationship between those numbers; knowing what data tells you and doesn't tell you; and having a spatial sense.”

   “The signs of a society that is not very numerate are in plain view,” Liedtke continued. "Why are there so many people that gamble? And so many people that believe if they buy two tickets they double their chance of winning the lottery? Why do people put so much faith in numerical tests and data?”

RECOMMENDATION
  
      In developing a personal tutoring program for this father’s son, I made it clear that he would have to be prepared to follow-up with some very important activities in between tutoring sessions. The personal tutor will try to put some fun back into math, especially when it comes to helping the young boy master some of the basic numerical facts of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. However, we will refrain from “speed drills” and mere rote learning. Instead, we will spend time showing the child how he can make sense out of the world around him with mathematics. We will develop our own math problems using the actual environment in the home and outside. We will create very real problems and then go through the thinking and reasoning process needed to come up with a suitable solution.
 
   For example, it is easy to come up with examples all around us to demonstrate the concepts of fractions, geometry, percentages and other topics that are taught in class.
 
   The tutor will spend some time each session working with the boy to help him understand the concepts that are being taught at school in order to help him achieve higher marks and build up his confidence. We will also show him how to study for math tests in a way that will be exciting and rewarding and that will produce desired results.
 
   One of the most effective procedures I have seen for developing this important self-confidence is to get children accustomed to estimating answers instead of trying to come up with the exact answer immediately. As we get older we find out that in many cases an estimate will serve our purposes quite well. But it takes skill to become good at estimating.
 
   In between tutoring sessions the father and his wife will have to become more observant when it comes to finding mathematics in their every day activities. And they will have to take time to talk to their son about how math concepts are being used in these activities. This can be done while grocery shopping, driving in the family automobile, or watching sporting activities. You can even get your son to develop measurement concepts by getting him to help you with the cooking and baking.
 
   The ultimate goal in this case is to make sure that the young boy learns to love math and approaches new concepts and problems with confidence and determination. Math does not need to be something you fear. Instead, it can be the key that unlocks the world around you.

 

 
The Learning Clinic is The Private Practice of
Robert Kirwan, B.A. (Math), M.A. (Education), OCT
4456 Noel Crescent, Val Therese, ON P3P 1S8
Phone: (705) 969-7215    Email:    rkirwan@thelearningclinic.ca

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