work in an educational environment.
Considering these current treatments, it is
recommended that a new treatment be developed.
This treatment would, initially, identify areas of
specific difficulties through tests. These tests
would need to be worked through without a time
limit to reduce any test anxiety compounding on
the pre-existing maths anxiety, ideally with a one
to one assistant to reinforce the lack of pressure
on the results of this test. This test would allow
specialist treatment on any topics that have caused
the original knowledge chasm. This would be
followed up with a small learning group to allow
the individual to first tackle the specific areas of
weakness, before attempting to learn new topics.
While any success in the topics of weakness should
improve the individual’s confidence in their maths
ability, providing any evidence that the individual is
able to perform mathematically may assist in altering
the student’s avoidance mindset. Some evidence
that may be used for this twin studies failed to
identify any innate maths ability (Alarcón, Defries,
Light & Pennington, 1997), (Bonamy et al, 2004),
(Hatworth, Kovas, Petrill & Plomin, 2012) as well as
a study (Cairns, 2015) that informed children that
their brains functioned akin to muscles and that
by working this area stretched their ability, which
showed that a growth mindset worked effectively in
improving learning.
To conclude, maths anxiety is a condition that
affects four percent of British secondary school
students, which causes a fear when encountering
mathematics. This likely develops through
conditioning and may be prevented through
methods designed to support self-confidence and
resilience in individuals. Research into treatments
for maths anxiety is still required, as well as methods
to begin learning at an individual rate so that maths
anxiety does not develop in the first place. One final
important consideration is that as humans, we do
not instinctively use absolutes, the methods that
maths is borne of, but rather, naturally function
based of emotions (Jung, 1957). This means that
the entire shift from non-mathematical thinking to
that of a mathematician needs to be accepted as
one that is vastly difficult and should be treated as
such, not simply creating an understanding, but as an
adaption of the natural thinking process. To establish
this would require a massive shift in the methods of
early education, as young minds are easier to mould
(Harvard, 2019).
References
Alarcón, M., DeFries, J., Light, J. and Pennington,
B. (1997). A twin study of mathematics disability.
Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30(6), pp.617-623
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed.
Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association,
pp.197-198
Bonamy, O., Harlaar, N., Hayiou-Thomas,M.,
Kovas,Y., Walker,S,. Petrill,S., Spinath,F., Dale,P. and
Plomin,R. (2004). A twin study of teacher reported
mathematics performance in 7-year-olds. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 96(3), pp.504-517
Borovik, A. and Gardiner, T. (2007). Mathematical
Abilities and Mathematical Skills. The University of
Manchester: Manchester institute for mathematical
sciences school of mathematics
Cairns, E. (2015). Every child is capable of
learning maths. [online] Available at: https://www.
britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/every-child-
capable-learning-maths [Accessed 1 Jul. 2019]
Chinn, S. (2008). Mathematics Anxiety in Secondary
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Curtain-Phillips, M. (2019). The Causes and
Prevention of Math Anxiety. [online] Available at:
https://www.theproblemsite.com/lesson-plans/
math/the-causes-and-prevention-of-math-anxiety
[Accessed 1 Jul. 2019]
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