American students have fallen behind in math, and the numbers tell a troubling story.
Students in many developed nations consistently outperform U.S. high school students in international exams. In recent results from the PISA test, U.S. teens ranked 26th, behind countries like Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and several European nations. On domestic assessments, it’s much the same story. Only 26 percent of all eighth-grade students across the nation scored proficient on the most recent NAEP math assessment. Furthermore, Black and Hispanic students scored 32 and 24 points lower than their white peers, respectively.
And yet, math proficiency is critical. Passing 6th-grade math is one of the best predictors of high school graduation. Some believe improving math competencies is key to our national security and to reinforcing the nation’s resurgent semiconductor industry.
Beneath the test scores, however, lies a deeper issue for many students that often goes unnoticed: math anxiety. This troubling fear of mathematics affects perhaps one out of four students, stunting their confidence and performance in a subject critical to both personal and national success.
This troubling fear of mathematics affects perhaps one out of four students, stunting their confidence and performance in a subject critical to both personal and national success.
Researchers have found that math anxiety can create a feedback loop, where poor math skills increase anxiety, which in turn hampers further learning. Math anxiety persists into adulthood, affecting decision-making in areas such as money management and healthcare. It’s a fascinating topic with far-reaching consequences.
What The Research Says
Cognitive scientist Sian Beilock, now the president of Dartmouth College, conducted a study where participants solved math problems inside an MRI machine. She found that those with high levels of math anxiety exhibited heightened activity in brain regions linked to threat perception and pain when merely anticipating doing math tasks.
Beilock and her team also discovered that adults with math anxiety tend to opt for simpler, low-reward math problems over more challenging, high-reward ones. They surmised that this response may lead them to avoid advanced math courses and limit their career options in fields that require higher-level math skills.
A meta-analysis of studies between 1992 and 2018 conducted by Colleen Ganley, a developmental and educational psychologist at Florida State University, identified a small-to-moderate correlation between math anxiety and math performance. This relationship was evident in childhood and remained significant into adulthood.
Adults with math anxiety tend to opt for simpler, low-reward math problems over more challenging, high-reward ones.
Overcoming Math Anxiety By Addressing Math Misconceptions
The key to helping students overcome their math anxiety is to boost their confidence in their math skills. One (under-reported) way teachers can do this deals with the concept of “math misconceptions.” This is a relatively new area of study and can take a minute to get one’s head around.
One of the big drivers of math anxiety is the black-and-white nature of math: either you solve the problem correctly, or you get it wrong. Rarely, is there an in-between. But what causes students to get wrong answers? Often, they make simple calculation errors, like forgetting to carry the tens when adding a string of numbers. But sometimes, students get questions wrong because they have a fundamental misunderstanding of the mathematical concept at hand. Researchers call this a “misconception.” When operating under a misconception, students will almost always arrive at the wrong answer, regardless of their computational skills. Understanding a student’s misconceptions is often key to improving their confidence and abilities in math.
The learning platform RightOn! encourages students to embrace their mistakes by pushing them to think about and discuss their misconceptions. This can increase their self-confidence and deepen their understanding of math concepts. It also “normalizes” mistakes – in other words, it helps kids understand that mistakes are natural and nothing to be anxious about.
A growing body of research highlights the potential of AI in helping teachers identify and monitor misconceptions. In the U.K., for example, the learning platform Eedi uses AI-based prediction models to pinpoint specific gaps in a student’s understanding. Similarly, researchers at Vanderbilt University are exploring how AI can analyze assessment data to better detect student misconceptions.
Growth Mindset In Math
This closely relates to the concept of a “growth mindset,” which is a belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort, learning, and perseverance. Research suggests that fostering a growth mindset in kids can mitigate math anxiety later. Some edtech platforms use chatbots to deliver these types of lessons. A recent study found that students who used the “empathetic” chatbot Rori showed “markedly higher” math scores.
Here’s a real exchange between a student and the Rori bot:
Rori: Have you ever said something like “I’m not a math person,” or “I’m not naturally smart like someone else”?
Student: Ooh, not like that.
Rori: I appreciate your perspective! Saying those things can hold us back from our potential. Do you know what a “Growth Mindset” is?
Student: Is what?
Rori: Growth mindset is believing you can improve through practice and effort. Yes, believing in yourself is a big part of having a growth mindset. Does that sound interesting to you?
Student: Yes be pls.
Rori: Just like muscles get stronger with exercise, your brain gets stronger with practice. Want to make your brain stronger?
Student: Yes.
Rori: To make your brain stronger we need to practice challenging tasks. Keep working that brain with a growth mindset!
Targeted Math Interventions
Beyond helping young people adopt a growth mindset, ensuring they have confidence in their skills is crucial to them overcoming their math anxiety. One time-tested way to do that is to ensure they’re getting the support they need when they need it. For teachers, that means having access to real-time data on their students’ strengths and weaknesses and having the capacity to address student learning gaps.
That can be hard to do in a traditional classroom, but new tech tools are making it easier for teachers to know when they need to step in with targeted support.
Carnegie Mellon University’s program, called PLUS – Personalized Learning Squared – uses a combination of live tutors and an AI-powered learning platform to personalize math instruction and provide teachers with real-time data they can use to address their students’ learning gaps. Teachers who have used PLUS say they’ve seen “math-phobic” kids do a 180 after receiving tutoring through the platform.
Beyond helping young people adopt a growth mindset, ensuring they have confidence in their skills is crucial to them overcoming their math anxiety. One time-tested way to do that is to ensure they’re getting the support they need when they need it.
The tutors, who are students at Carnegie Mellon, are trained in effective tutoring techniques, including how to respond to student mistakes and address topics such as social-emotional learning. They meet with students online, providing an opportunity for students to receive assistance from those who may offer alternative approaches to teaching complex concepts.
Developers at Stanford have created Coteach.ai, an AI-powered math platform that can automatically generate differentiated, personalized learning experiences – i.e. “scaffolding – for middle school math students that can seamlessly integrate into a school’s current math curriculum. Tools like this can help teachers identify whether a student is struggling due to a “misconception” or a weakness in their computational skills.
Math anxiety sounds like something invented to make excuses for students who score poorly in math, but research has shown that it’s an actual problem that can create a cycle of avoidance and underachievement. Fortunately, it’s also an area with promising solutions made possible by advancements in edtech. It sounds trite, but when it comes to math anxiety, there really are apps for that.
Disclosure: The teams that developed Rori and PLUS participate in the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute, which is supported by The Learning Agency.
Kent Fischer
Director of Strategic Communications
3 thoughts on “Math Anxiety? There’s An App For That”
Thanks for this great article.
Rori is Great! Enjoying it from Rwanda
Thank you for sharing this important work to help students address their anxiety related to math!