Best Practice

Positive attitudes to maths: Five classroom hacks

Mathematics Pedagogy
For some students, anxiety about maths learning can create a barrier to progress and achievement. Nicola Woodford-Smith offers five approaches to help teachers encourage positive attitudes in the maths classroom
Image: Adobe Stock

Maths. The word conjures a range of feelings at every age and stage.

Too often, those feelings can be negative, perhaps arising when maths is seen as something too difficult or inaccessible or as “not for me”.

This has fed into a widely accepted societal view that “maths is not for everyone” even though this attitude would not be tolerated with a subject such as English. Maths is for everyone. In short, maths is power.

But what is maths anxiety? Well in a recent guide to tackling maths anxiety published by Pearson, it is described as a “negative emotional reaction to mathematics that acts as an ‘emotional handbrake’ and holds up progress in maths” with the severity ranging from a feeling of “mild tension” to a “strong and deep-rooted fear”.

Citing Richardson and Suinn’s maths anxiety rating scale research (1972), the guide further defines maths anxiety as: “A feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in ordinary life and academic situations.”
So maths anxiety can be debilitating, and it seems that 36% of 15 to 24-year-olds in the UK say they experience it (Bell, 2018).

But what can teachers do to help? Informed by my work with schools, teachers, students, and our Power of Maths community, here are five tips to lessen maths anxiety.

 

1, Create a maths-positive culture

In our recent power of maths survey (Pearson, 2021), 86% of secondary maths teachers said more positivity about maths in popular culture would help them to inspire students. That culture can start right now, in school classrooms and corridors.

A whole-school maths-positive culture is a culture that gently dissuades students – and teachers – from making statements like “I can’t do maths” or from leaving them unchallenged. It champions the subject in many areas, not only in the maths classroom.

Create displays that depict the awe and wonder of maths in the real world – in AI, space exploration, global work to achieve sustainability, and so on. Integrate these throughout the school to reinforce that the wonder of maths is all around us.

Escovar et al (2016) suggest that the majority of those who experience maths anxiety are usually learners with a “feeling” rather than a “thinking” preference, meaning they prefer to understand the value, meaning, purpose, and narrative of the mathematical tools they are required to learn.

Tackling anxiety, therefore, means giving students positive opportunities to explore maths, to investigate and share exciting developments, and to make the subject feel more relevant and meaningful to them.

 

2, Broaden the stories you share

Another contributing factor to maths anxiety can be a lack of appropriate role-models in STEM. If a student does not see mathematicians who look like them, they may maintain the sense that maths is for others – and not for them.

For example, do your students know about Al-Khwarizmi, the 8th century Persian polymath credited as the father of algebra? Or Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr, a world-class American mathematician, mechanical engineer, and nuclear scientist who attended the University of Chicago at the age of 13? Have they heard of Gladys West, the African American whose pioneering work led to GPS?

Why not take the opportunity to expand the maths stories you share? This is especially relevant for female students. Women are more than twice as anxious as men about using maths and numbers – 29% compared to 13% according to a survey of more than 2,000 UK adults aged 16 and above (National Numeracy, 2019).

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon was the youngest ever girl to pass A level computing (aged just 11) and is co-founder Stemettes, which showcases the diversity of people working in STEAM disciplines.

In a recent blog for Pearson’s Power of Maths campaign, Dr Imafidon discusses how maths anxiety and gender interact, with ideas and tips to help teachers, including tapping into what female learners are interested in and finding time for special maths lessons where broader problems can be tackled such as looking at climate change issues (Imafidon, 2023).

She added: “​​​Instead of focusing on what learners don’t know, we should reinforce and emphasise what they do know. By going through topics collaboratively and working as a cohort – rather than encouraging solo learning all the time – students can feel empowered and recognise when they get things right.”

 

3, Celebrate mistakes – often!

It is essential that the positivity you create in your school around maths is matched with a positive teaching style in the maths classroom. Fear of failure, humiliation, exclusion, and isolation can fuel the most persistent cases of maths anxiety.

Unfortunately, many tell-tale symptoms of maths anxiety – such as deliberating, avoiding “hard” questions or answering “I don’t know” repeatedly – are sometimes assumed to be symptoms of poor behaviour. Mistaking anxiety for laziness, and punishing students is, of course, counterproductive.

Indeed, when learners are in an anxiety zone, they will start to perceive the lesson as a threat not a challenge – stress levels go up and cognition goes down.

Aim instead to create conditions that favour a growth mindset. In these environments, students know that it is okay and expected that learners will make mistakes, feel stuck, or ask teachers for further support; it is normal and expected that learners will find activities challenging.

Learners must be encouraged to recognise that obstacles may lead to breakthroughs. Support this sense of safety wherever possible by allowing students to work at their own pace, minimising the pressure they are given to answer questions in front of others.

 

4, Present new journeys towards problem-solving

Rethinking the way students are (or aren’t) pressured to perform during lessons should also lead to an acknowledgement that there are many different ways to approach maths.

Some learners with maths anxiety will benefit from one-to-one interventions, with targeted support. Others will prefer working as a whole class. If in doubt, survey your students, talk to their parents and carers. Ask them: “How do you feel about maths?”

Mathematicians regularly work in groups to explore concepts and challenges. Likewise, schools can encourage group working and team-work in classrooms. By going on a problem-solving journey together students are less likely to feel excluded and disengaged.

On a more individual basis, consider whether some time-out for breathing exercises, a five-minute break, a quick walk or similar, might help ease any anxiety that we see building up.

 

5, Captivate with creativity

Get creative! Tapping into your learners’ interests will help capture everyone’s attention – and boost their engagement. There are lots of resources out there, from the #HipHopEd initiative, engaging urban youth communities with STEM subjects through hip-hop music, to the Your Future in Maths series from Pearson that helps you to use real-life examples of individuals in diverse and vibrant careers that use maths.

Check out organisations like the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers, which runs a “making engineering hot” campaign and Stemettes, which leads skill-building sessions and STEAM activities.

Plug students in to the opportunities and get them to feel the power of maths first-hand. The positivity will take them far, unlocking new and exciting worlds for the benefit of us all.

 

Final thought

Maths and numeracy sit at the centre of our lives, day-in, day-out. Students who embrace and understand maths have the lifelong tools that are essential for thriving in our society: to budget, to compare salaries, to save, to understand how economies work – even how much of the planet works – and to better carve out a place in the world.

Nicola Woodford-Smith is a maths subject partner for Pearson. She has taught maths for 13 years at both GCSE and A level. Pearson’s Power of Maths campaign works to ensure that everyone can engage with maths and what it can do.

 

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