The Fear Of Math Anxiety

Concerning the readings and the presentation in this week, there are several interesting elements. For instance, according to the Introduction Pointcast, Math begins with an attitude. How well one does in math is partially dependent on the mentality that he or she approaches Math. In addition, according to the pointcast, Math anxiety is a real and hurtful factor with individuals who fear math. Whenever math anxiety happens, take deep breaths, roll shoulders, and relax. Afterward, continue completing the math assignment. Furthermore, math requires diligence. According to his article, "Math Anxiety," Deb Russell provided six points that can aid in overcoming math anxiety. His first point is similar to a point that the Introduction Pointcast mentioned:

In this paper, readers will explore the psychological disorder of major depression. Depression is a very mental illness that affects many adolescents. Readers will also explore the symptoms of depression, like loss of interest, loss of sleep, etc. As many causes of this mental illness are categories in factors like neurological and social for depressed adolescents. Readers will read about the treatments of depression ranging from anti-depressants to electroconvulsive therapy in case studies mentioned. Finally, readers will understand what major depressive disorder is and how it could affect an adolescent in their times of trouble.

The magnitude of anxiety is rapidly rising each year among adolescents through college students. The scope of the problem is that mental illnesses is not taken as seriously as it should be among students of all ages. The mild cases of mental illness start with a stressor which then leads to anxiety. The transition from anxiety to depression is devastating among students, and with depression that can lead to higher suicide rates. Credibility is established with Campus Health article on mental illnesses stated, “19.6 percent of students experienced depression and 8.9 percent experienced seasonal affective disorder… 13.4 percent of students experienced an anxiety disorder” (Scope of the Problem, para. 2). Through extensive researcher of anxiety and its effects on humanity, the illness justifies itself for why it is important to public health.

I learned first and foremost is that the United States has more young high school graduates than any other nation and have a large population of those enrolling in post-secondary as well. I do believe that this is true because in order to succeed in the US we must have some sort of degree. Other nations teach a trade which is amazing because those are the ones who we contract to fix our homes and businesses. No, most do not have a degree but a certificate in their field of trade. Math anxiety is the feeling of nervousness towards Math and it’s problems during classes and or exams. It normally begins when we are a child and escalates throughout life. By the time we are adults and have not dealt with it, we feel dumb when approached with an issue involving possibly the simplest numbers. Due to this many of us stay within our comfort zone which is away from numbers as long as it’s in a form of a paycheck. Math anxiety is not just a problem in our heads, it can cause us to discontinue taking math classes beyond the requirements. This tends to limit our choices with regard to college or career opportunities. Because we've had a bad past experience we avoid Math at all cost, just like myself. Most people tend to leave school feeling like a failure due to Math. There were many words I came across in the reading which described me and those are:

In a survey done by the American Psychological Association, they found that 30 percent of teens were dealing with feelings of sadness or depression due to stress, while 31 percent felt overwhelmed. This is not new information. With standardized testing designed to make-or-break a student, homework, preparing for college, sports, extracurriculars, and spending time with family and friends, it is no wonder an average student’s anxiety is high- even higher than adults. Standardized testing, huge onslaughts of homework, and the pressure of getting into prestigious universities are all factors that induce stress, anxiety, and even depression.

Now, how many of these students do not typically undergo an encouraging experience within America’s high schools is what’s unsettling. Flipping through 3 significant sources, what was most commonly reported as a typical mood of a High School adolescent was stress, being the most talked about characteristic. Sophie Bethune notes that “Teens report that their stress level during the school year far exceeds what they believe to be healthy (5.8 versus 3.9 on a 10-point scale)” (Teen Stress Rivals That of Adults, apa.org) while Dr. Rosalind Dorlen on another source mentions that a majority of the symptoms reported from adolescents experiencing an abundance of stress include “a high level of stress are persistent and ongoing anxiety and depression, elevations in blood pressure and other somatic complaints.” (High School Seniors and Stress, stress.lovetoknow.com).

While reading this journal entry my eyes were really opened up to the fact that putting the anxiety of being able to recall facts is extremely detrimental to our children.I thought this article was a good read though because it stated a lot of facts that were always backed up as well as proved up activities to improve from what the facts were telling us. An interesting point that I came across in this journal was that number sense is the foundation for all higher-level mathematics. (Feikes & Schwingendorf) Another fact that was interesting fact to me was that math anxiety has been recorded in students as young as 5years old. ( Ramirez, metal,2013). In my opinion I can understand why both of these fact are proven to be true. Like I said in my

•What are some things that a student can do to overcome math anxiety? Begin by breathing. Write down the problem and apply what you already know. Break down the problem by using the order of operations and go step by step until you come to the answer.

Students need to have a support system to help them through tough times in high school or at any stage in their life. When I had told my best friends that I was depressed, their answer to me was “why, you have nothing to be depressed about”. I thought I was able to turn to them during this hard time in my life and they gave me no support. According to Rueger, Malecki, Aycock, and Coyle, social support has been shown to be an important factor in adolescent development while they are dealing with depression (2016). A strong social support for adolescents help build their self-esteem and well-being and having little to no support can cause an increase in depression. A lot of people do not know how to help others when they need it most and can cause more harm than good.

There are cases in which math anxiety was linked into poorer academic performances among women than in male. Although, there are findings that anxiety is greater in girls than boys as it’s showing its evidence as it was twice as powerful in women and there are concepts in where the girls are failing when it comes to academic matters because of their anxiety based from other studies. Anxiety findings gave a significant negative correlation on male with accuracy on tasks and academic matters. There are girls who identified themselves having big worries based on their high brain activity especially when they are making mistakes during the task or in vice versa, they are worrying on future events and thinking about negative possibilities on the certain circumstances. However, these females performed performance in line with the same as others on simple tasks but need to work hard and harder. As the occasion became harder, these women tend to perform worst and failing to do the task

Math Anxiety is different for everyone; it may affect an individual differently that it would affect any other individual. In recent years math anxiety among college students has very much become an epidemic. This type of anxiety is evident in all types of undergraduate students, traditional students, nontraditional students, students with learning disabilities, and regular students. There are various factors that can influence the varying degrees of math anxiety: gender, parental support, ones perceived ability, and perception of their previous math instructors teaching ability (Haynes, Mullins & Stein, 2004). Recent findings have shown that there is not a significant difference in math anxiety levels between males and females (Haynes, Mullins &

I find it interesting that out of all the things that may determine failure or success, it comes down to hard work and attitude. I really enjoyed reading the math anxiety articles and they definitely shine light on some of my exact thoughts. I was once decent in math, but when you take a 12 year break, my teachers in high school would sum it up by the saying, "if you don't use it, you lose it." I can honestly say that I forgot almost all but the basics when it come to math. I definitely found myself doubting if taking this class was the right decision in the midst of adding more credits to graduate earlier, but after reading these article and I know I have what it takes if I stay focused and positive. I laughed when I read the myths and misconceptions

Math anxiety levels and performance outcomes were compared for bilingual and monolingual community college Intermediate Algebra students attending a culturally diverse urban commuter college. Participants (N = 618, 250 men, 368 women; 361 monolingual, 257 bilingual) completed the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS) and a demographics instrument. Bilingual and monolingual students reported comparable mean AMAS scores (20.6 and 20.7, respectively) and comparable proportions of math anxious individuals (50% and 48%, respectively). Factor analysis of AMAS scores, using principal component analysis by varimax rotation, yielded

My interpretation of this article is that math anxiety is preventable by starting with the parent’s confidence with math. If not, this cycle will continue for generations to come. Personally, I struggled in math during my third year of schooling. I did not like the concept of fractions and decimals. However, my father helped me greatly with my math homework. He would sit down with me until I got the concept completely. My parents even took me to a tutor for a month to help me get over my math anxiety. Since that year, I have excelled in math, even higher up math like business calculus. I have always assisted my peers with their homework, and I felt better about it since I was helping with their math anxiety.

Many people when they look at a math problem experience levels of anxiety. If I was to ask any of you to solve this Calculus problem on the board, how many of you would experience even the slightest amount of math anxiety? All you do is plug in 3 for the value of X under the radical sign and multiply it by 3, the answer will be 9 find the square root and your answer is 3. This is called finding the Definite Integral with the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Students shouldn’t have a fear of math, instead they should enjoy it. There are numerous reasons as to why people fear math, I will go over what you should do to overcome the fear of such an amazing subject. You shouldn't let math scare you, once you get beyond your fear of math you will realize that it is one of the most beautiful subjects out there with beneficial qualities.