Math Anxiety

Introduction

Hi! My name is Jay. I've been tutoring/teaching K-12 math for 5 years now. I'm currently attending California State Polytechnic University, Pomona ( 2011 ). I'm double majoring in Pure-Mathematics and Computer Science. As a hobby, I write Computer and Math tutorials to teach people. One of my favorite things to do during my free time is to write apps for Windows Phone 7. I have few apps uploaded on the Windows Market, you can search me on " WP7 Market " by typing in my name "Jay Lei ". In this article, I'll be discussing how to help students to overcome their math anxiety. I created a math pyramid picture as follow.

I believe math is like a pyramid. If we don't have a strong foundation of it, our pyramid can collapse easily. After spending so many years with different grade levels of students and different ethnicity of students, I realize American students have a very weak foundation in comparing to students from other countries. Due to that fact, American students are having a hard time climbing up to the star of the pyramid.

Solution

This is one of the solution I have come up with to help my students to climb up to the star. The place I work at, I help students with their after school home-work. After they finish with their school home-work, I would have a packet of math worksheets ( usually few pages ) base on their needs to give them extra practice on the math materials they have learned. From experience, ( Pre-algebra / Algebra I ) students, I normally start them off with fraction addition, multiplication and division. You'll be surprise to find out how many students at that level are having a hard time to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions ( Just FYI many college students are having a hard time to add and subtraction improper fractions ).

Here are some sites where you can create free printable worksheets for your students.

www.superkids.com

http://mathematics.gulfcoast.edu/Courses/MAT0002/MAT0002_Test_Reviews/test_reviews.htm

It's very important for students to build a strong foundation before they move on to higher math. Every two weeks, I will give my students an overall review on the materials I gave them, that helps me to find out if I need to give them extra review materials or move on to new materials.

As for Trigonometry and Algebra II students, I'll give them review on Algebra I materials. If students are struggling with Algebra I materials, I ill give them reviews on algebra I practice worksheets before moving on to Geometry or Algebra II materials. I would rather have my students walk at a slow pace then moving on at a fast pace and not learn anything at all.

Here are some sites where you can print free worksheets for your Geometry or Algebra II students

http://www.kutasoftware.com/freeipa.html

http://edhelper.com/

As for Geometry and higher math, students should already have a strong foundation of Mathematics. At this point, teachers should be teaching students the true meaning behind "Mathematics". For students to succeed in higher math, they need to understand " Mathematics " isn't all about calculation. It's true, we do a lot of calculation in Math, however " Have you ever ask yourself or your teacher what does the result you get from your calculation mean? ", "Why are you allow to add, subtract, multiply or divide" and "How are we going to apply Math to real life situation". I know many teachers from high school ( not all ) that are teaching Geometry and above, they would jump into the formulas, plug in the information, solve and done. I'm not saying that is a bad idea, however many students will only know how to use the formula for only that type of problems.

I would tell my students to create index cards with theorems or formulas. Then I would have them to memorize the formulas or theorems. Next, I would explain to the students why and how to use the formulas. Each time a students work on a problem, I'll have them to ask themselves why/what allow them to do each steps. I want my students to gain a habit each time they work on a problem, " They have to stop and think, why they pick the formula that they are using. " Doing so, it helps students to think more logically and that is " The true meaning behind Mathematics." It helps people to think more logically.

Overall, to succeed in Math, students have to gain a habit of asking questions each time they work on a math problem. "Why am I allow to do this / What allows me to do this ? " Teachers must explain thoroughly why each formulas are used and when they should use the formula under what circumstances.

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