Citeprep Guides

Using animations to mitigate anxiety

Math anxiety impacts everyone

It is my intent to speak to and offer mitigation strategies for students who suffer from math anxiety. Unlike any other topic taught in our academic program, studying math induces a particular form of anxiety, distinguishable from test anxiety and anxiety, in general. My goal with my online course, "BC Calculus - Series," is to offer relaxation strategies to help students dissociate themselves from anxiety, giving them a quiet place of comfort and a means of distraction.

This special form of anxiety is called Math Anxiety. Math anxiety is real, broad-sweeping, and debilitating, if not career-limiting. Mark H. Ashcraft broadly states that math anxiety is commonly defined as a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance (Ashcroft, 2002). Ashcraft notes that "people with math anxiety avoid math, receive lower math grades, express negative thoughts about math, and hold negative views of their math abilities. [The] correlation [between math anxiety and success in math] is strongly negative (p. 182)."

Not surprisingly, math anxiety affects many people of all ages and backgrounds. According to Silke Luttenberger (Luttenberg et al., 2018), 93% of adults in the United States suffer from some form of math anxiety.

Fish Tank: Relaxation Technique

Many people find watching fish in a fish tank comforting. Naturally, the pet companies promote having fish tanks in homes and businesses. According to the staff at BeChewy ("Aquarium Therapy," 2021), observing the stillness of fish in a fish tank can be soothing. To see CitePrep's Fish Aquarium, follow the sequence below to see our Fish Tank. Figure 1 illustrates what you may expect from CitePrep Guide's Fish Aquarium.

("Blue angel fish," 2022)

Figure 1. Blue angel fish in a fish aquarium.

Hand Breathing Exercise: Relaxation Technique

Breathing exercises are a successful practice to slow down one's heart rate and reduce stress. One technique is called the simple five-finger breathing exercise (Brewer, 2020). The exercise is simple and requires only one hand and a finger to start. To see CitePrep's rendering of the five-finger breathing exercse follow the sequence below to see our Hand Breathing Exercise. Figure 2 illustrates what you may expect from CitePrep Guide's Five Finger Breathing Exercise.

("Five Fingers," 2022)

Figure 2. Five finger breathing exercise.

Research on Math Anxiety

The presentation shown in Figures 1-7 below is the beginning of a research framework for studying math anxiety and strategies to mitigate this anxiety's affect.

(Railey, 2022, p. 1)

Figure 3. Testing without anxiety [From PowerPoint presentation]

(Railey, 2022, p. 2)

Figure 4. Testing without anxiety [From PowerPoint presentation]

(Railey, 2022, p. 3)

Figure 5. Testing without anxiety [From PowerPoint presentation]

(Railey, 2022, p. 4)

Figure 6. Testing without anxiety [From PowerPoint presentation]

(Railey, 2022, p. 5)

Figure 7. Testing without anxiety [From PowerPoint presentation]

(Railey, 2022, p. 6)

Figure 8. Testing without anxiety [From PowerPoint presentation]

(Railey, 2022, p. 7)

Figure 9. Testing without anxiety [From PowerPoint presentation]

References

Ashcraft, M.H. (2002). Math Anxiety: Personal, Educational, and Cognitive Consequences. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5), 181–185.

Luttenberger, S., Wimmer, S., & Paechter, M. (2018). Spotlight on math anxiety. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 11, 311–322.

Aquarium Therapy: How Fish Tanks Can Reduce Your Stress. (2021). BeChewy.com.

Brewer, J. (2020). Mind going a million miles a minute? Slow down with this breathing exercise. Ideas.Ted.com.