I am really scared of spiders. I hate the fact that I’m so scared of them but don’t really know what to do about it. In fact ‘crawlies’ in general (bees, beetles, butterflies, cockroaches, moths, etc.) really frighten me. Some years ago I went to a sea-life centre in Vancouver and the thing that I remember most is that two parts of the centre were separated by a garden area containing butterflies. It took me ages to pluck up the courage to make my way to the other part of the sea-life bit, and I ran at top speed through it. I’m sure that butterflies are truly beautiful but I don’t get it.
Is it an irrational fear? There are people out there who can catch moths and put them outside, so it must be possible to be not scared of them. It does confuse me how people cannot be scared of them, in fact there are people who even like these horrible 6 to 8 legged monsters. In all other ways, I’m a rational and quite intelligent person but can’t get past this phobia.
Maths is one letter different from moths but my reaction to it is very different. If moths were actually maths I would leave lights on all night with the windows wide open. In fact, I love maths. It is estimated however that a quarter of the population have a fear of maths. In a study at Stanford University, children who suffered with a condition known as maths anxiety had their brains scanned while exposed to sums. It was found that areas of the brain associated with phobias (such as my crawlies one) were active during these mathematical activities. It does seem to be a very real phobia. Is it an irrational fear?
When I was at school I was scared of spiders and now that I’m a grown up, I’m still scared of spiders. This often applies to maths too. Maths anxiety can follow people into their adult life. When my nephew was a toddler he had no problem picking up insects, they were his pets. Now in his early teens he, like me, will run for the hills (so long as there’s no butterflies) if a spider comes into view. At some point, he seems to have learned to become scared. I like to believe that we’re not born fearful of the maths but at some point in our lives some develop an aversion to it. In many areas of school mathematics it can be quickly determined if you’ve got the right answer, thus leading to instant gratification (do a question, check the answer in the back of the textbook, put a tick). The converse is going to be true too though, an instant negative response when getting a wrong answer. During school years do we make a judgement that we can either do maths or that we can’t do maths? Is the fact that maths at school is either answered right or wrong mean that we come to the same binary conclusion about our own ability in the subject?
There is a lot of awareness of the importance of being numerically literate. Many of the degree subjects have mathematical content. Calculations need to be made by nursing students, bioscientists, computer engineers, business students and so on. Statistical analysis and interpretation is needed in psychology, sociology, science experiments, politics and, again, so on. With the importance attached to mathematics what more can we do to cure this anxiety?
To improve maths skills I recommend, as a starting point:
Practising and building/rebuilding confidence in the subject is key. When writing an essay the missing of a word or a single spelling mistake generally doesn’t detract from the overall meaning. However missing out a small step when computing something mathematical can bring the whole thing crashing down. It’s therefore really important that you give it time and work from the ground up. You’ll feel much more confident, and ultimately satisfied, about performing powerful statistical tests if you’ve looked at some general statistics work first (such as calculating the mean, then the standard deviation and then …).
Mathematics is a wonderful subject and is present with us more often than we realise. There is a high probability that you are going to encounter mathematical content during your degree studies. The best students are the ones that plan ahead and deal with any potential issues and anxieties that could occur.
Whether you’re a lover or hater of mathematics I look forward to working with you as part of my role in learning services, either through workshops or one to ones. If there are particular workshops in mathematics or statistics that you feel would benefit students then please do let me know.
Phil Roberts
Maths and Statistics Adviser
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