Math Anxiety and the Secret Behind the Development of Mathematics Guru

 One of the problems that may affect the classroom environment and student achievement (for age 3-5 years) negatively is math anxiety. Math anxiety strongly affects mathematics achievement at all levels of learning. It is defined as a negative cognition, avoidance behavior, and pressured feeling that affects a student while solving problems related to mathematics. Most kindergarten students internationally struggle with math anxiety. Due to math anxiety, such students develop fear and dislike towards mathematics, which hinders them from excelling in the subject. Consequently, math anxiety leads to an individual as well as national consequences. People who have math anxiety tend to avoid studies related to mathematics thus limiting their career options. 

Math anxiety is a complex experience that is caused by mental bias and experience with negative attitudes towards mathematics. The anxiety tends to develop initially at the early stages of human development (3-5 years), or even before formal schooling. Many children in grade I report different mathematics anxiety levels, which are associated with low math achievement. The anxiety seems to get worse as a child grows older and reaches its peak when the kid is in ninth or tenth grade. This composition of fear and worry towards math plateaus after that and persists into older adulthood. A student suffering from math anxiety feels unsure in his or her ability to solve mathematical problems. As a result, such students can only take the minimum required mathematics courses. 

The avoidance from pursuing advanced math courses makes students feel inadequate to excel in mathematics. The inferiority feeling bars these learners from advancing in their mathematical potential as their education requires. It is estimated that 25% of kindergarten children and not less than four out of five students in other grades have either moderate or a high math anxiety level. As a global learning problem, this type of anxiety in various parts of the world is caused by poor results in mathematics or fear of the subject. The impact of the feeling is not restricted to scholarly cases since it is also believed to have a hand in poor medication estimates by nurses, reduced teaching effectiveness amongst teachers, and ineffective financial forecast. In fact, mathematics anxiety in some students is so serious that it is even triggered by simple tasks such as reading mathematical formulas loudly. Therefore, math anxiety can have huge and harmful consequences on the daily lives of people. Fear of math is a common problem in many people, not only preventing them from engaging in the subject successfully but also making them avoid pursuing professions that are related to mathematics. As a result, their future career and opportunities become severely limited.

The “mental scratchpad” that allows the learners to “work” with all forms of data is stored in consciousness. By having an inadequate capacity, operational memory in these learners has reduced effectiveness in integrating, computing, storing, and manipulating math-related information due to math anxiety. While doing mathematics, learners with problems in the subject also attend to their uncertainties at the same time, and consequently, they end up failing in the subject. Math anxiety has a higher impact on learners' performance in the subject than the influence of their abilities. When functional magnetic resonance imaging is used to evaluate brain activation differences between kids with high math anxiety levels and those with low levels as they perform math questions, its results also support the idea that mathematics anxiety interrupts learners’ working memory resources, which are essential for completing a given mathematics task. 

    Understanding math anxiety can help in the creation of effective interventions for reducing its adverse effects. Teachers have an imperative task in the reduction or avoidance of students’ mathematics problems. To achieve a favorable learning environment, teachers should encourage all students to participate actively in learning mathematics regardless of whether they make mistakes or not. Such encouragement boosts students’ self-efficacy and tackles math anxiety thus improving performance in the subject. Since worries that interfere with thinking and reasoning resources essential for handling math tasks are believed to trigger anxiety, high-math-anxious individuals can instantaneously perform better in mathematics if their fears or negative consequences of the uncertainties are reduced. Learners normally perform poorly when they see a given situation as a negative challenge. Therefore, early detection and tackling of math anxiety assist kindergarten children struggling with the problem to reappraise their attitude in mathematical tasks, which makes them perceive an assignment or test in the subject as a positive challenge instead of a threat. Eventually, a child who was earlier struggling with math anxiety becomes a mathematics guru.  

 

REOPENING OF SCHOOLS

 

As it is the norm, the Kenyan academic year begins in January up to November. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its rising fears and numbers, this calendar was interrupted at around the end of March 2020. This applies to both public and private institutions all the way from Nursery schools to Tertiary institutions. It is now more than half of a year since the first Covid-19 case was confirmed in the country by the ministry of health, and schools are still closed with children having to remain at home.

 "The 2020 school calendar year will be considered lost due to Covid-19 restrictions", Mr. Magoha said, stating that the learners would retake a year as learning institutions had closed abruptly after 3 months into the calendar. However, after every briefing by the CS for education, Kenyans end up being even more confused than they previously were. This is because Prof. Magoha has never had a stand with a specific opening date whatsoever.

 Mr. Magoha initially ordered the provision of educational opportunity through online platforms and hinted on the final national exams being undertaken in October/November this year. Bearing this in mind, most students and pupils intensified their studies from home at the expense of their parents' sacrifice to facilitate all the requirements like smartphones and laptops. In a well-attended meeting later in July with Prof. Magoha as the chair, there emerged resolutions that the national examinations will be taken by KCPE and KCSE candidates in September next year. In this same meeting, they decided that Universities and colleges that will comply with the World Health Organization's Covid-19 regulations shall be allowed to resume early September 2020. This was also in vain since only a handful of universities and colleges have put those measures in place one month later.

Less than a week ago, all headlines were hit with news hinting early resumption, most probably before the end of October 2020. However, no preparations are underway in primary and secondary schools to expand spaces for social distancing and erection of handwashing points within the different schools. This is even more confusing since communication from top Education officials keeps signaling an early resumption of studies.

 

"We want more action and less meetings and briefings," said Busia Women REP, Mrs. Mutua. This statement was directed to the Ministry of Education to make them start working on the resumption of schools. Following the latest briefing on the resumption of schools by early October, funds approximating KShs. 1.6B has been disbursed, but the TSC is complaining that they haven't received anything yet. So, the question remains: are we really ready for the reopening of schools, or is the ministry of education just buying time and money through these void promises? As we leave that question unanswered, I guess we will have an answer sooner than later, especially now that the 'next reopening date' is up-close, either October 4th, 12th, or 19th depending on preparations (Oops! We are not even sure of the date yet). This phase will include classes seven and eight, in addition to forms three and four. The other levels of primary and secondary schools are scheduled to reopen on November 2nd (If all goes well). Universities and tertiary colleges have been permitted to reopen any time, and their schedule is reliant on the decision by their Senate Councils based on preparedness.