At MASH we are aware that many students feel nervous or worried about mathematics and statistics, and some students suffer from Mathematics Anxiety.
Mathematics Anxiety is defined as feelings of tension or nervousness that interfere with mathematical performance in academic and everyday situations (Richardson and Suinn, 1972)
If you are a student who is feeling nervous about your first visit, or a member of staff wanting advice on helping students with mathematics or statistics anxiety, please email Jamie Smith at Jamie.Smith@Lincoln.ac.uk. MASH also runs dedicated Mathematics and Statistics Anxiety workshops to help students overcome their math/stats anxiety. These can be found on our Workshops page.
The Growth Zone Model (Johnston-Wilder et al, 2016) can be helpful in explaining the different stages of learning.
Growth Zone Model - Johnston-Wilder et al, 2016
In the ‘Comfort Zone’, students are working independently on the material they are familiar with. However, in order to progress, students must enter the ‘Growth Zone’ which can be challenging but rewarding in terms of the increase in knowledge and understanding. In the growth zone, taking risks with appropriate support and making mistakes is part of learning; it is important to persevere with questions and ask for help if needed. However, many students with mathematics anxiety expect failure and lack motivation, moving straight to the ‘Anxiety Zone’. At this stage, stress levels increase rapidly, mathematical helplessness takes over and the brain activates the ‘fight or flight' defence mechanism. In the anxiety zone, students may feel tearful or angry and want to remove themselves from the situation as soon as possible. It is important to recognise when you are in this zone and develop strategies for coming out of it e.g. breathing out for 7 and in for 5.
Gokhool, F., Lawson, D., & Hodds, M. (2022). Investigating the relationship between mathematics anxiety, mathematical resilience and mathematics support engagement: an analysis of demographic and cohort factors. MSOR Connections, 20(2), 82-93. https://doi.org/10.21100/msor.v20i2.1321
Johnston-Wilder, S., Pardoe, S., Almehrz, H., Evans, B., Marsh, J., Richards, S. (2016). Developing teaching for mathematical resilience in further education. 9th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, ICERI2016, Seville (SPAIN). Published in ICERI2016 Proceedings, pp. 3019-3028
Marshall, E., Staddon, R., Wilson, D., & Mann, V. (2017). Addressing maths anxiety within the curriculum. MSOR Connections, 15(3), 28. https://doi.org/10.21100/msor.v15i3.555
Smith, J. (2022). Student Preferences for Online Maths and Stats Support and difference on Mathematics Anxiety. MSOR Connections, 20(1), 28-36. https://doi.org/10.21100/msor.v20i1.1291
