Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | A | Academic Exchange Quarterly

Using bibliotherapy to overcome math anxiety.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Math anxiety is a widespread phenomenon. More recently, children's and adolescent literature has been recognized as a means to teaching math to students through the use of stories to make the math concepts relevant and meaningful. Literature can also be used as a form of therapy to reach students who may be frustrated with math and/or who experience math anxiety. Story and picture books, such as A Gebra Named Al (Isdell, 1993), are now available to use in the classroom as forms of bibliotherapy in helping students overcome or come to terms with anxiety toward math. In this article the author proposes using reading and discussion to aid in reducing math anxiety in students via the story of Sarah and her struggle with math anxiety.

**********

Sarah dislikes math. Year after year of drill and practice and being taught math while seeing little or no value in learning it has turned Sarah off to the subject. Sarah has lost her confidence and ability to successfully do math and just plain hates it. Sarah's negative feelings about algebra may be typical of many math-anxious students in middle school. Sarah is not alone in her feeling about algebra or math in general for mathematics anxiety has been a prevalent concern among educators and parents for decades. Educators are noticing more students appearing fearful of math and science classes. Sarah's teacher is well aware of Sarah's math anxiety based on her low performance on assessments, sweaty palms while doing math, and her math anxiety survey which was administered at the beginning of the year which indicated a high level of math anxiety.. Sarah's math teacher and the school counselor are collaborating to address the issue of math anxiety. They have decided to use a combination of psychological approaches including bibliotherapy, counseling, discussion, visualization, and relaxation techniques to help students overcome and/or reduce their frustration with math.

Math anxiety is a growing concern in the U.S. Educators need to apply the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics(NCTM) Standards and check for the mathematical disposition of their students. With declining math and science scores internationally, the United States needs to recognize the fear that many Americans have of math and do something while students are still in K-12 schools to help build their confidence in their ability to do math and take as many math classes as possible to stay abreast of the technological era. If students like Sarah do not feel they can succeed at math or that they are not mathematically able, they may decide not to follow a particular career track due to this belief. Teachers and counselors can make a difference in the lives of secondary...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!