Course introduction

Introduction

Maths anxiety is defined as ‘feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems’ (Richardson and Suinn, 1972). It may affect your performance while studying maths, or cause you to avoid the subject altogether or display other signs of undermining behaviours.

During this course, the acronym DEAL will be used to help reframe your relationship with maths, and introduce you to methods of identifying the symptoms of maths anxiety and minimising their effects. The DEAL process (Describe, Explore, Act and Learn) is a practical way for you to work through maths anxiety. It’s based on the IDEAL process that is used in business to help solve problems (Bransford and Stein, 1993). The goal isn’t to cure maths anxiety, but rather enable you to recognise your feelings in response to an anxiety-inducing situation. From that point, you can make use of various techniques to try and work productively when studying maths.

• Session 1 will Describe maths anxiety. When you know more about a situation that you find stressful, you are empowered to make decisions about how to move forward.
• Session 2 will Explore the symptoms of maths anxiety, and the ways it can impact your health and wellbeing.
• Session 3 will suggest strategies to help you Act to reduce your anxiety.
• Session 4 will suggest ways to monitor your anxiety so you can Learn to study maths while managing your anxiety.

You can now move on to Session 1.