Departing the Text: Calvin and Hobbes

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Saturday, April 6, 2013

Math Anxiety: What it is and How to Relieve its Stress and Impact

The title alone is making me nervous and I LIKED math!! But don't worry.... help is here!

Research shows that the greatest anxiety is experienced anticipating math and not actually doing it. Experts also find that "reframing" the anxiety (much more below) will help.

So, before tackling the mammoth math monster, let's laugh at some math anxiety images, 'reframe' and then deal with the issue.

From: www.krismath.org

From:mbaker.columbiastate.ed

by Bill Watterson http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2011/03/09/?utm_term=comics&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

RESEARCH:
While the concept of math anxiety is not new, there now studies supporting how 'real' it is and how it creates 'real' neurological responses in the brain.

From:aplusala.org

This past October (10/31/2012) in the UChicago News ("When people worry about math, the brain feels the pain") William Harms reported on work done by Sian Beilock, (professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and a leading expert on math anxiety) and her student Ian Lyons (postdoctoral scholar at Western University in Ontario, Canada), noting that:

"...mathematics anxiety can prompt a response in the brain similar to when a person experiences physical pain...

Using brain scans, scholars determined that the brain areas active when highly math-anxious people prepare to do math overlap with the same brain areas that register the threat of bodily harm—and in some cases, physical pain.

Surprisingly, the researchers found it was the anticipation of having to do math, and not actually doing math itself... “The brain activation does not happen during math performance, suggesting that it is not the math itself that hurts; rather the anticipation of math is painful...”

The current work is also consistent with other research from Beilock and Lyons... Beilock’s work, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education, has also shown that mathematics anxiety can begin as early as first grade, and that female elementary school teachers often transmit their math anxiety to their female students.

This latest study points to the value of seeing math anxiety not just as a proxy for poor math ability, but as an indication there can be a real, negative psychological reaction to the prospect of doing math.

Rather than simply piling on math homework for students who are anxious about math, students need active help to become more comfortable with the subject, Beilock said. Beilock’s work has shown, for instance, that reframing and writing about math anxieties before a test can reduce one’s worries and lead to better performance.

[Note: Beilock is the author of the best-selling book about stress and performance, Choke: What The Secrets Of The Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To.]

In an earlier article (Math anxiety causes trouble for students as early as first grade") Harms reported on earlier studies by Beilock which found that,

Worries about math can disrupt working memory, which student could otherwise use to succeed...working memory [is] a kind of 'mental scratchpad' that allows us to 'work' with whatever information is temporarily flowing though consciousness...it's especially important when we have to do a math problem and juggle numbers in our head.

The findings of Beilock, Gerardo Ramirez, Elizabeth Gunderson and Susan Levine - published in the article Math Anxiety, Working Memory and Math Achievement in Early Elementary School, in early preview on the website of the Journal of Cognition and Development, the authors noted that:

"Early math anxiety may lead to a snowball effect that exerts an increasing cost on math achievement by changing students' attitudes and motivational approaches towards math, increasing math avoidance, and ultimately reducing math competence.

Adding hope, however, the authors noted that:

"Fortunately, there is hope for alleviating the negative impact of math anxiety on math achievement. When anxiety is regulated or reframed, students often see a marked increase in their math performance... One way to reframe anxiety is to have students write about their worries regarding math ahead of time.

The researchers further speculated that for younger students, expressive picture drawing (in place of writing) may help them reframe and more effectively reduce the stress and burdens felt by their anxieties towards math.

From: rationalmathed.blogspot.com

HOW PARENTS AND TEACHERS CAN HELP RELIEVE MATH ANXIETY

1. Minimize rote memorization by making math meaningful. Here are some suggestions:

Play math and counting games with your kids even before they get to school. This will help them be much more comfortable with numbers and number concepts.
When you go shopping, before entering the store give your kids some "spending money" helping learn the value of money while figuring out 'how much' of various items they can afford that trip.
Provide real life puzzles involving math such as how to divide an apple, cookie or pie evenly; how early you have to get up if it takes 15 minutes to shower, 10 minutes to get dressed, 15 minutes to grab breakfast, etc. These 'games' and puzzles help remove the rote memorizing math seems to entail for many, and becomes involving, creative. For more see this link: How to Make Learning Math Fun
Help kids 're-tile' the classroom or playroom floor using different shaped tiles (this can be done when learning about shapes, learning about remainders, geometry, area, etc.)
Integrate math with great story-telling by having kids create comics and graphic novels (creating the panels and pages involves 'area', shapes,etc.).

by Charles Schulz http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1966/04/21

Build bridges and structures
For ratios, proportions, charts and graphing have kids design surveys to ask other classes and then learn to chart the responses - or during political campaigns have them do surveys they can report on.

By Bill Wateterson http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1985/12/02

TEACHERS: For more on this read Lockhart's Lament where he gives other examples of making math meaningful.

2. Reframe the math anxiety:

Parents and teachers might show humorous math-anxiety cartoons, help kids draw their own, talk about the anxiety before approaching new math topics, lessons and math tests.
Math Curse an awesome picture book by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith is a super way to show how math is everywhere and you don't need to be a math 'wiz' to deal with it. It is also deals with math anxiety in a creative way and is a great book for math students of all ages. Here is a YouTube trailer for the book:

Talk about math and other anxieties and how they can be overcome. Here is a clip of the"quicksand" scene from The Replacements as Gene Hackman clearly illustrates 'reframing'. In this clip the coach is trying to help his players overcome their fears to help them be better players and not freeze like deer in headlights:

Help kids become more aware of their feelings. Help them recognize when they're getting anxious and try 'calming exercises' (this will clearly mean different things for different kids) BEFORE math study and math homework.
Create a comfortable, empowering place to do math work/homework.

3. Try different teaching modes, lessons and techniques - we don't all learn one way. Many students have trouble with math instruction because the teaching of abstract concepts is done almost exclusively through verbal modes.

There are manipulatives and pictures available but workbooks and textbooks are verbally directed.
There are wonderful online computer games that can help reinforce math concepts that are not verbally laden. These games and projects such as bridge- building and other hands-on projects help kids conceptualize important math concepts.
Here is a clip of non-verbal math games and instruction that is solely non-verbal - image and visually literate based. It is put out by MIND Research Institute and the presentation is compelling. We are only at the beginning of multi-medial and visually driven learning and MIND research is helping to provide options and multi-modal reinforcement of learning materials.

MIND Research is a company that has developed an impressive array of computer games that illustrate various math principles. 270,000 students as of 8/2020 and close to 1,000 schools in 20 states (as of 8/2010). The key is the instructional software and the interaction of the student with the software. ST Math Fluency uses a visual approach to teach math facts for students to reach an automatic retrieval / performance level.

For additional links, motivational quotes and advice on general test taking please go to Test Taking Tips.

To help kids laugh and minimize their anxiety - below are Calvin and Hobbes links to help (taken from http://www.comicmath.com/comics.html)

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1985/12/02 Statistical Analysis and Sample Size

To help kids laugh and minimize their anxiety - below are Peanuts links to help (taken from http://www.comicmath.com/comics.html)

March 6, 1983: Doing Math in your sleep. I think the only answer that works is Z equals zero but check me on that. (And you'd get 0/0 so that's not so great)
June 9, 1983: An unexpected report card
June 25, 1983: Sometimes the only way to gain unique knowledge is to figure it out yourself the long way
Nov 15, 1983: Great one for teachers on the importance of wait time
Dec 7, 1983 : The terrors of multiplying 9 by 12
Dec 9, 1983: On how to estimate the dumb things you've done
Dec 13, 1983: More is better!

Before closing, I want to share one more image with you:

From: teachingcollegemath.com

Clearly, one more way to reduce math anxiety is to both make students comfortable with numbers and to take the fear of the unknown, particularly the unknown math test out of the equations. Preparation and previewing can be a huge help.

By Bill Watterson found at http://marco.butte.pagesperso-orange.fr/divertissements/calvinhobbes.html

These are just a few ways of addressing and relieving math anxiety.

I thank you for your visit and hope you'll share your own math-anxiety experiences and coping mechanisms in the comments.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Average Kids?

Why is it that (except in athletics or the arts) teens work so hard to be 'average' and fit in, and we as parents want them to stand out or at the very least, excel?

What is 'average' anyway? When I 'googled' "average" this is what I got:

av·er·age/ˈav(ə)rij/

Noun:

The result obtained by adding several quantities together and then dividing this total by the number of quantities; the mean.

Adjective:

Constituting the result obtained by adding together several quantities and then dividing this total by the number of quantities.

Verb:

Amount to or achieve as an average rate or amount over a period of time: "annual inflation averaged 2.4 percent".

Synonyms:
noun. mean - medium - mediocrity

I personally don't like the term, "average student" and based on Google's synonyms ("mediocrity") I may not be wrong. Being "average" seems to limit a teacher's, student's, and parent's vision and expectations. Every student has strengths and weaknesses that together create who he or she is. They may 'average' out to be a kid who functions somewhere in the middle of his or her peers on various tests and measures of achievement, but to say they are 'average' defeats their accomplishments and potential. Furthermore, I think every kid needs to see him or herself excelling, creating, and contributing in whatever unique way works best for them.

Howard Gardner addresses this in his Multiple Intelligences (MI) Theory. Gardner identifies nine different kinds of intelligence, each reflecting different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has their own individual combination of these intelligences. His nine intelligences are:

Linguistic Intelligence - the capacity to understand, use, and manipulate language
Logical Mathematical Intelligence - the capacity to understand, manipulate and express numbers, quantities, and numerical operations
Musical Rhythmic Intelligence - the capacity to think in music, and to hear, recognize and manipulate music.
Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence - the capacity to use your body or body parts (hands, fingers, feet, etc.) to solve problems, to interact, and to express oneself (athletics, dance, performing arts are the most common examples of excellence in this)
Spatial Intelligence - the capcity to represent the spatial world internally - to learn and integrate visual stimuli. Spatial learners, for example, learn best by observing images, photos, graphs, charts (as opposed to listening to lectures or reading long passages).
Naturalist Intelligence - refers to the capacity to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) and recognize patterns and features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations).
Intrapersonal Intelligence - the capacity to understand yourself- who you are, how and why you react to various things the way you do, understanding your strengths and weaknesses, how to avoid pitfalls, etc.
Interpersonal Intelligence - the capacity to understand other peoples' speech, body/facial language, postures, motivations, etc.
Existential Intelligence - the capacity and proclivity to contemplate philosophical questions of life, death, reality, etc.

Additional resources: Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory explains these areas in more detail. Concepts to Classroom: Tapping into Multiple Intelligences offers a free self-paced workshop (via PBS) detailing MI (Multiple Intelligence) and how it can be integrated into classrooms. Finally, howardgardner.com has more updated work including Multimedia and Multiple Intelligences and Technology and Multiple Intelligences. .

Schools Attuned and All Kinds of Minds train parents and teachers to look at students along eight different "neurodevelopmental constructs." Much like Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences, we all have our own unique combination of skills which embody our own unique learning profiles. These profiles vary along eight different areas:

Attention
Memory
Langauge
Social cognition- understanding how dress, posture, tone, facial expressions, and verbal/nonverbal communication all help us better understand people and social situations around us
Temporal and Spatial sequential processing - understanding time, recognizing how long things take, recognizing and being able to follow schedules and sequences (be this following directions, following time, or telling jokes or stories);
Graphomotor skills - handwriting skills
Fine and Gross motor skills - coordinating large and small muscle groups (for example, throwing a catching a ball involves large muscle groups while knitting involves smaller muscle groups)
Higher order cognition - understanding abstract concepts, brainstorming, creating, analyzing, evaluating, comparing all involve higher order cognition. It also involves 'metacognition' much like Gardner's Intrapersonal Intelligence - an ability to understand oneself - one's actions, thoughts and motivations.

Using either one of these approaches - be it recognizing and teaching to multiple intelligences or to recognizing your students learning profiles along various neurodevelopmental constructs has multiple benefits:

It validates each of your students, allowing them to excel in their areas of strength while strengthening areas of weakness
It helps teachers and students better understand each other, gaining greater self esteem and an ability and desire to take risks and reach for higher goals and expectations
It enables students to advocate more effectively for themselves. Once one has a better understanding of learning strengths and weaknesses, one can seek more specific help in areas of weakness
It helps parents, teachers, and students to more realistically evaluate and approach school (and life) related problems.

I would like to think that each and every one of us has special gifts and skills that should be promoted. Maybe "average" should be used to help describe performance, but not kids. What do you think?

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Paying Attention

From: yastal.ru

"A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention." Herbert Simon, psychologist.

My son always said he paid attention in school. It wasn't always to what the teacher was doing or saying, and it wasn't always to the work he had in front of him, but he was paying attention... attention to whatever it was that crossed his mind, or sparked some creative energy.

Personally, I think 'paying attention' is a misnomer. When paying attention, be it in school, work, or driving, we need to make sure we 'focus' on what we should be focusing on (teacher, books, screen, or the road around us). And, while this distinction may be simply splitting hairs, I think it is an important distinction.

When something is interesting, stimulating, or important, it is much easier to pay attention. But there are so many times that things are not stimulating or there are other thoughts, images, or issues vying for the same attention, or we simply lack the energy to maintain attention.

Here are some things we can do for ourselves and our kids to help us all pay attention:

Don't underestimate the power of sleep. A good night's sleep and food for energy are powerful tools to help maintain focus.
Minimize distractions.

At home, prepare proper work spaces where necessary materials are easily accessed (computer outlet, pens/pencils, paper, printer, books, etc.) See my post on setting up work spaces: http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/03/theme-thursday-sense-of-space-and.html
Make sure there are no outside noises, lights, entertainment systems near the workspace to woo or distract.
Note that music is not necessarily a distraction. Often music (background music, familiar music) can actually help focus attention. The problem is that while music helps some focus, it can distract others. This is something to work out for yourself and/or your child.
Squeezy toys or small hand manipulatives can also help individuals maintain and focus attention. Like music, though, it can help some and distract others. IF your child is having some issue focusing, you may want to try this.
In school, try to find ways to interact with the materials in class - even if in a lecture, try to think of questions to ask or ways to use the information. Play with it, tweak it.

Sometimes paying attention simply means slowing down and observing, interpreting, and incorporating details and resisting distracting and competing impulses.
Jonah Lehrer (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 3, 2011 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904716604576542593019231326.html ) relates focusing with strong executive function skills. Executive functions include focusing, organizing, prioritizing, sustaining and shifting focus, managing and regulating emotions, and self-monitoring. He notes that these skills can be developed and nurtured through difficult board games, computer memory and skill games, yoga, tae-kwon-do, and through interactive curricula in the classroom.

Establishing and maintaining schedules, helps set and model 'regulation' and may help children resist impulses and focus on the task at hand, knowing other needs will be met at other points in the schedule. Note, though, that there always needs to be some flexibility in establishing and maintaining schedules. Being too rigid creates all sorts of issues and conflicts.
In another article "Attention and Intelligence" http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2010/04/attention_and_intelligence.php Jonah Lehere notes that,

"...delayed gratification isn't really about gritting our teeth or exerting willpower: it's about controlling the spotlight of attention. Likewise, intelligence isn't just about remembering abstract facts - it's about controlling what thoughts we're thinking about in the first place."

"...So how can we bolster our selective attention abilities?...When we read a complex narrative - say, Proust or Woolf or DFW - we're forced to constantly exert our attentional muscles just to follow along. On a deeper level, however, we're also being asked to switch between different kinds of informational streams. We need to pay attention to the sentence, and to the subtleties of language and character and plot, but we need to also remain aware of the larger themes unfolding in the work."

Along this vein, go for walks, focus on different things. Focus on the noises around you, the colors around you, the life around you, the odors around you, and the quiet around you. Shift focus from one aspect to another, look for large details and small details in the objects around you. Do this with pictures and illustrations in books and magazines, with sentences and paragraphs, with clothes or items in a store. Intentionally shift focus, see what you notice!

In closing, while writing this post, this scene from Sister Act 2 (sorry, folks) kept popping into my stream of consciousness: "If you want to be somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention..."

And while so true, my next post will present the opposite agrument... quiet time, letting your mind roam and NOT pay attention is also important...

So please leave comments and join me next week for the counter argument.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Homework!

From writerg.wordpress.com

With school starting, so too begins homework. For many kids, homework is a series of chores, often meaningless, that just have to get done.

In my opinion, there are two reasons homework may be a chore:

Teachers assign 'rote' exercises that have little thought, creativity, or meaning to students; or
Homework is too difficult for a student's independent working level - or it is too easy and again becomes a meaningless chore.

The role of teachers (and often of parents) is to help kids find meaning and creative challenge in homework.

In Arthur's case (see the video clip), there is so much homework - it is overwhelming. No fun, no creativity - just seemingly endless work.

There's another wonderful tale of homework in Frindle by Andrew Clemens - a story about Nick Allen - the master teacher distractor...and if you haven't read it with your child it is a MUST! This story begins with Nick Allen as he prepares for fifth grade. He must buy a dictionary before school begins and on the first day of school is prepared to distract his teacher (who is notorious for her homework assignments). As she is about to give homework Nick attempts to distract her by asking her 'What makes a word a word?' She responds with, "you do!" The story is all about how she not only does not let Nick distract her from giving homework, she gives him additional homework figuring out exactly what makes a word a word. This assignment is so meaningful, Nick is determined to coin a new work, "FRINDLE." Read it. It's brilliant!

In the first instance (for Arthur), homework is a chore. In the second (for Nick) it's a challenge. Which scenario would YOU prefer?

The problem in assigning homework is that every student is different, and making assignments for each student is unrealistic. As a result, teachers and parents have to help their children find meaning in homework assignments. There are some other alternatives though. Here are some suggestions:

For Teachers:

Homework assignments can offer different types of questions and options for students of various skills and preferences to wrestle with on their own time.
Provide opportunities to mentally manipulate content material creatively, making it more meaningful and personal.
Instead of worksheets, have students construct vocabulary word games to play during recess and classroom breaks, or write a journal entry, screenplay, reflecting topics in social studies and science.
Have students create comic books expanding poetry or texts covered in classroom readings including selected vocabulary, and/or specific 'talking points' .
Include an option for more abstract opinion questions that some students love pursuing and others find too philosophical and unstructured.

For Parents:

Talk to kids about their homework (but don't do it for them)

Help your child find relevance to the homework assignments (especially if they don't immediately see it).
Talk about the Arthur clip above. Why is it so bad, what could make homework more palatable.
Jon Scieszka has some wonderful books on Math Curse and Science Verse which may help your child find relevance in math and science.
Design a special place/table/desk/corner for homework. Help them structure their time so that after homework is completed they can have fun. This is really important. [See http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2011/03/theme-thursday-sense-of-space-and.html for more details.]
Not only should kids have a desk/table to work at, they should have their materials readily available as well. This means pens, pencils, paper, dictionaries, etc., should be easily accessible as they're working.
IF an assignment is overwhelming, help kids break down assignments into manageable sequences.
Talk about project/paper options. Brainstorm together and help guide your child. Again, for projects you may need to help them structure their time.
Some kids find a slight music distraction helpful for concentration - other's don't. Talk about this with your (older) kids.
When in doubt, go check out Calvin & Hobbes:

Or, if you prefer music.... check out doing homework with Otis Rush: