Academic Success Tip: Addressing Math Anxieties

Many college students struggle with math anxiety, which can slow their progression toward a degree or impact their choice of program of study. Some colleges and universities have sought to decrease the impact of mathematics courses as gatekeepers to completion, including reforming developmental education, but making students more comfortable working with math can require more specific strategies.

Inside Higher Ed looked into three initiatives that colleges have implemented to soothe students’ math anxiety as well as four tips faculty and staff can use with individual students.

What’s the need: Math anxiety, defined by Rogue Community College professors as a learned fear response to math, can impact students’ testing ability and result in physical and emotional discomfort when working with math. To a professor or staff member, math anxiety can look like a student is procrastinating or avoiding taking required math classes or feeling frustration or resentment around math.

Math anxiety can cause a vicious cycle—students have a negative experience with math, and so they avoid the subject, which results in poor preparation and poor math performance, which can create a new negative experience.

Compared to other general education courses, math courses are frequently reported as hated or cloaked in myths such as some students are naturally better at mathematics. These myths can perpetuate disparities in who is enrolling in math courses and who is viewed as capable of succeeding.

Working with learners: For practitioners working with students experiencing math anxiety, some practical strategies include:

• Teaching useful study habits to help make students feel more prepared for engaging with math and completing assessments. One strategy that can help students is having them tackle tests in pieces, attempting problems or questions that they feel more comfortable with first, and then moving on to more difficult questions to build confidence.
• Empowering students with self-regulation practices to assist them in building emotional resilience and providing acute relaxation in real time, which can help with in-the-moment stressors such as tests.
• Promoting a growth mindset among learners. Some students have learned math anxiety from negative self-talk or influences in their lives who told them they weren’t good at math. Helping students see their own potential to learn and grow can promote wellness in general and remove negative feelings around math.

• Creating a positive classroom environment to mitigate tensions for students around math. One study found learners who engaged in distance education felt more comfortable in math courses because they didn’t worry about getting called on unexpectedly or looking stupid in front of their peers, which can inform practitioners of common concerns students face. Professors can also encourage mutual respect and promote students’ psychological safety through remaining aware of students’ sensitivities around math.

Across campus: College leaders have sought to address math anxiety more systemically by creating programs and innovations in the classroom, including:

• Making it relatable. Two professors in the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business found that students weren’t excited by statistics but, by bringing in sports analytics, they could help students understand and relate to concepts. The course, Introduction to Sports Analytics Using R, integrates real-world examples from the sports industry and also teaches statistics skills. (R is a programming language.)

• Creating a community. Salt Lake Community College established an orientation for its developmental math course, during which students are grouped into a cohort that moves through the course material at the same pace. In addition, students can opt to complete developmental math over one to three semesters, allowing for variable pacing in course material and exam schedules. The initiative allows students to work at their own pace and do it in a community of learners. Facilitated study groups for math learners can also help students feel more comfortable asking questions and developing effective study and test-taking strategies.
• Expanding testing time. For some students, math anxiety can compound with general exam anxiety, resulting in poor performance on timed assessments. Moorpark Community College in California piloted a program that allowed students to have extended time on their exams or shorter exams over all. The initiative saw more women and Black students pass math courses, and the average student felt more confident in their testing abilities.

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