MATHS ANXIETY

Ellen Marshall (Statistics tutor)

Victoria Mann (SpLD tutor)
Dan Wilson (Neuroscientist/Statistics tutor)
Overview
• Definition of maths anxiety and how it affects the brain

• What causes maths anxiety and what is the impact?

• Strategies for reducing maths anxiety in the classroom

• Strategies for supporting students with maths anxiety

• Interim results for our study on the effectiveness of

several suggested strategies
Maths anxiety
• “feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the
manipulation of numbers and the solving of ordinary life
and academic situations” Richardson and Suinn (1972).

• “an emotion that blocks a person’s reasoning ability when

confronted with a mathematical situation” Spicer (2004).
 Student X describes her first maths lesson
• “Well what can I say, after loosing [sic] sleep, worrying about
maths my fear was true. I arrived this morning with
complete brain block and anxiety. Nervous, scared and
petrified of the maths lesson, even though I had read the
class notes.”

• “Once the teacher started talking my mind went blank as if

she was talking a different language, everything she said
went in one ear and out the other…”

• “As she asked us to practise questions my mind went on

shut down, I started sweating thinking o [sic] my god what if
she asks me?”
Statistics anxiety
• “Statistics anxiety (SA) is the specific feelings of anxiety
students experience when they encounter statistics, for
example, gathering, processing, and interpreting data.”
(Cruise et al., 1985)

• Strong relationship with maths anxiety

• Statistics anxiety highest predictor of poor performance in

research methodology courses (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2000)

• Affects a student’s ability to fully understand research

articles, as well as to analyse and to interpret statistical data
(Onwuegbuzie, 1997)
Signs and symptoms
• Anxiety: Appears generally anxious and doesn’t appear
to take anything in especially near exams
• Panic: Feeling of helplessness that will not go away
• Paranoia: Believing that they are the only person not
capable of doing maths
• Passive Behaviour: Feeling there’s no point in trying/
wanting to quit and go home
• Lack of Confidence: Don’t know where to start/ expect to
never know the answer to questions
Neuroscience of Maths Anxiety
• Very recent research (2012-2015) using brain scanners
(fMRI) have shown that maths anxiety has measurable
effects on brain function.
• We summarise some of these findings by explaining what
happens in the brain when someone experiences maths
anxiety.
“I just can’t think about maths”
• Maths anxiety eats away at your
working memory (WM) because the
brain is too busy worrying about
maths rather than doing maths.

• This makes maths seem harder Working

than it really is. memory

[Young et al., 2012]

Worry
“I can’t get started” /
“I just can’t switch onto maths”
• Like an engine, the brain has an ‘idling
state’ when it isn’t focusing on a task. This
turns off when you focus on doing
something.
• Maths anxiety prevents this ‘idling’ state
from switching off, making it hard to focus
on maths.
• Students may feel like they “don’t know
where to start” to solve a problem.

[Pletzer et al., 2015]

“Maths hurts my brain”
• Thinking about maths actually activates
the regions of the brain associated
with pain.
BUT
• Actually doing mathematics does NOT
activate these pain regions.

Participants were told

[Lyons & Beilock, 2012]
there was a maths
question coming up
Maths avoidance
• Brain sees maths as a threat, so activates ‘fight or flight’.

Eyes see maths Brain thinks “tiger!”

Discussion
• Which factors do you think may lead to maths anxiety?

• How do you think maths anxiety impacts on students

ability to study maths effectively, or their choices?
Negative maths experiences
• Insensitive/uncaring teachers

• Told “maths is easy/difficult” when struggling

• Overly traditional ‘Victorian’ teaching methods

• Parental maths anxiety / no help offered

• Embarrassment and humiliation

• Building blocks are missing

• Stereotypes about maths

• “Maths is not cool!”

Prevalence
• 85% of students in introductory math classes claimed to
experience at least mild math anxiety (Perry, 2004)
• Jones (2001) found that 25.9% of 9000 American students had
moderate to high levels of maths anxiety.

• Students with dyslexia (Jordan et al., 2014) and dyscalculia

(Rubinsten & Tannock, 2010) have a greater risk of MA.

Results for 561 University of Sheffield students:

• 88% expect to study maths or statistics as part of their course (7%

didn’t know and 5% do not).

• 48% of these students were worried about it.

 The Maths Avoidance Cycle

Brains of students with MA have been conditioned to bias avoidance

over approach when thinking about doing mathematics.

Poor performance in maths or stats modules can lead to failure and

even dropping out
 Impact of Maths Anxiety
• Fear of failure when encountering maths/statistics
• Frustration from trying and not being successful
• Begin to shut down and stop listening in class

43% of those
surveyed said a fear
or dislike of maths
had affected at least
one of their A level,
degree, module, or
job choices.
Discussion
• How did you feel about maths when you last studied it?
Do you have any anxiety about maths or have you
noticed students with anxiety?

• What may contribute to maths anxiety at University?

• What do you think may help reduce maths anxiety and

increase confidence?

• Think about teaching methods and additional support.

 In the classroom
• What do you really want them to achieve from the course?

• Constructivist teaching rather than rote learning

• Students construct their own methods rather than memorising

• Start with what the students know and work from there
(scaffolding)

• Activity-based courses – practice is essential

• Flipped classroom approach

• Peer learning – get students to work together in class

• Enthusiastic teachers with a good knowledge of maths

[Adapted from Finlayson, (2014)]

Relevance
• Students are more motivated if they see the relevance of
studying maths/stats to their discipline or general life

Offer a variety
of learning
resources

Online/ distance
learning helps

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic
Real-life data / project-related
• Build up through stages of a project
• Use computer-based methods
• Humour and teaching gimmicks (Schacht & Stewart,
1990) such as using students as the source of data
• Concrete, real life problems that students can relate to
(Finlayson, 2014)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/more-britons-than-
americans-died-on-titanic-because-they-queued-1452299.html
 Desensitisation
• Were Americans more
likely to survive?

• Build on previous
knowledge
• Spend more time on the
basics
• Use graphs of relevant
data and get students to
explain them
Tests
• Having one test only means anxiety builds up as there’s
no feedback to suggest students can do it.
• Untimed, unassessed tests decrease anxiety

Diagnostic Self-check Feedback Untimed/

tests: tests & (Núñez- open
Identify retesting Peña et al., book
weaker areas (Juhler, 1998) 2015) exams

Confidence increases
Online tests
• Online learning, unassessed tests with an option for
retesting and feedback all reduce anxiety

Question student answered. 3 and 5

will be different if the test is repeated

• Incorrect answer feedback

Example of how to do
the question

Additional online
resources
 Benefits of one-to-one support
• Most effective method for overcoming maths anxiety but an
estimated 33% of ‘at-risk’ students do not use MSC support
(O’Sullivan et al., 2014)
• Quiet, relaxed, supported study area and encouragement of
peer learning (Patel & Little, 2006)
• Tailoring to the individual, allowing enough time for inquiry
and conceptual development (Woodard, 2004)
• Immediate feedback reduces the time it takes for students
to achieve a desired level of understanding (Anderson,
Conrad, and Corbett,1989) and reduces the negative impact
of MA (Núñez-Peña et al., 2015)
Student X on her first MASH visit
“I then went up to 301 where I discussed my maths worries with
Ellen and Alex, and they gave me the support I needed.
After calming down and relaxing with Alex I could understand
how to do what was asked of me in 35 years I have never been
able to do maths, yet once calm I sat there and was able to. My
pulse rate slowed down my brain absorbed the maths questions
and how to do it.”

“This made me more confident and made me believe in myself

that I could do the questions alone. I am so thank full [sic] for a
lesson learnt today was to ask for help and relax!”
Non-maths strategies
• Maths anxiety awareness: Becoming self-aware of one’s
maths anxiety assists in its reduction (Uusimaki &
Kidman, 2004)
• Self belief: Students need to accept that effort is needed,
get help from peers or 1:1 support if needed and believe
that they can pass (Perry, 2004)
• Writing about anxiety: 10-15 mins writing before a test
means that the brain concentrates on writing rather than
worrying (Ramirez & Beilock 2011)
Recommendations for support staff
• Identify students exhibiting signs of maths anxiety

• Make them aware of the effect MA has on the brain

• Visit and liaise with staff in the maths support centre

(MSC)
• Take student to MSC and stay with them the first time

• Encourage students to use the MSC as early/regularly as

possible in their course
• Encourage peer learning / group work

• Encourage students to use online resources

But the cycle can be BROKEN!

Awareness
Feedback
1:1 support
Group
learning
But the cycle can be BROKEN!

Awareness
Feedback
1:1 support
Group
learning
But the cycle can be BROKEN!

Awareness
Feedback
1:1 support
Group
learning
But the cycle can be BROKEN!

Awareness
Feedback
1:1 support
Group
learning
But the cycle can be BROKEN!

Awareness
Feedback
1:1 support
Group
learning
Case study discussion
• A student comes in for stats support
• She is visibly nervous and tells me that her coursework is
due in a few days but she hasn’t started it yet
• She doesn’t appear to be taking anything in and
repeatedly tells me that she failed GCSE maths 8 times

• What approaches do you think I should use?

• Which strategies do you think you could use to teach or

support students with maths anxiety?
Desensitisation for stats
Student B
• Devised a plan of action – what’s realistic in a few days
• Covered data types, asking questions at each step
• Produced graphs in SPSS and discussed interpretation
• She started listening and was engaged
• Burst into tears at summary statistics so went back to
graphs
• Attended several sessions and wished she had come
earlier
Strategies used in project
Main study: All 83 DLL 2015-16 students are taking part in
the study which involves evaluating the effectiveness of the
following strategies.

1. Awareness of maths anxiety (workshop)

2. Receiving 1:1 maths support (MASH)
3. Unassessed tests with an option for repeating with
different numbers (MOLE quizzes)
 Maths anxiety workshop
• Workshop for ALL students in first maths lesson
• Discussion of what anxiety is, drawing on past experiences
• The causes and effects of maths anxiety
• Strategies for overcoming maths anxiety

93% agreed it was interesting and 90% agreed it was useful

Outcomes from the workshop

78% of anxious group felt

less anxious after the
workshop

59% felt more confident

Excellent feedback given to

DLL staff – asked to do
session again next year

44% of 57 giving feedback classified their

anxiety as moderate to very high
Outcomes from online resources
By week 6, 69% of all students had attempted at least
one test and 52% had attempted at least 2

23% of those with

moderate to high anxiety
had still not tried any
tests by week 6

Teacher comment: I've had several

students commenting on the usefulness of
the weekly MOLE quizzes, especially the
ability to take them again and again.
Outcomes from MASH engagement
• Despite the encouraging feedback from the workshop,
students were still not using MASH by week 6.

The success story: One

student uses MASH every
week to go over class
material. She even managed
to go through the week 10
material by herself.
Peer learning
• Student X is our first MA ambassador
• Encouraging others, via facebook, to study together,
come to MASH, and use online tests
• Increased attendance at MASH
• Anxious students are seeing the benefits
• Explaining questions to others
• Will make a short video for us for next year’s cohort
Where next?
• Alternative methods for stopping maths avoidance and
encouraging MASH use
• Roll out awareness workshop on academic skills programme
• Maths anxiety webpage
http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/mash/anxiety
• With staff and student hand outs
• Useful references
• Links to online test resources

• Stats for the terrified

• More collaboration
Contact details
• Email addresses
• Ellen Marshall ellen.marshall@sheffield.ac.uk
• Victoria Mann v.e.mann@sheffield.ac.uk
• Dan Wilson mba03daw@sheffield.ac.uk

Any questions or
suggestions?
Key references
• Finlayson, M. (2014). Addressing math anxiety in the
classroom. Improving Schools, 17(1), 99-115.
• Onwuegbuzie, A., & Wilson. V.A. (2003) Statistics Anxiety:
Nature, etiology, antecedents, effects, and treatments--a
comprehensive review of the literature, Teaching in Higher
Education, 8:2, 195-209.
• Iossi, L. (2007). Strategies for reducing math anxiety in post-
secondary students. In S. M. Nielsen & M. S. Plakhotnik (Eds.),
Proceedings of the Sixth Annual College of Education
Research Conference: Urban and International Education
Section (pp. 30-35). Miami: Florida International University.
References
• Anderson, J. R., Conrad, F. G., and Corbett, A. T. (1989), “Skill Acquisition and the
LISP Tutor,” Cognitive Science, 13, 467–505.
• Cruise, R. J., Cash, R. W., & Bolton, D. L. (1985). Development and validation of an
instrument to measure statistical anxiety. Proceedings of the American Statistical
Association, Section on Statistical Education, Las Vegas, NV.
• Finlayson, M. (2014). Addressing math anxiety in the classroom. Improving Schools,
17(1), 99-115.
• Jones, W. G. (2001). Applying Psychology to the Teaching of Basic Math: A Case
Study. Inquiry, 6(2), 60-65.
• Jordan, J. A., McGladdery, G., & Dyer, K. (2014). Dyslexia in Higher Education:
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• Juhler, S. M., Rech, J. F., From, S. G., & Brogan, M. M. (1998). The effect of optional
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• Lyons IM, Beilock SL (2012) When Math Hurts: Math Anxiety Predicts Pain Network
Activation in Anticipation of Doing Math. PLoS ONE 7(10):
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• Onwuegbuzie, A.J. (1997) The teacher as researcher: the relationship between
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institutional survey
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• Núñez-Peña, M. I., Bono, R., & Suárez-Pellicioni, M. (2015). Feedback on students’
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education. International Journal of Educational Research, 70, 80-87.
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