September 19, 2017 | UHCL Staff
There’s a reason why University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Math Center Director Allen Cox decided to kick off the Math Center’s new speaker series, STEMester, with a presentation about math anxiety. The series will cover a multitude of topics related to science, technology, engineering and math, but as any student can attest, it can all become a bit overwhelming.
Anxiety is an issue faced by nearly all students at every age, Cox said, and added that anxiety in general is a significant element of a larger, critical discussion about mental health issues in schools.
“I think this issue of anxiety, whether it’s about math or something else, warrants much more attention,” Cox said. “I’ve seen many great students go from 100 percent homework grades to complete blanks on tests. Anxiety can really shut down the brain.”
Cox said that he could see that the anxiety was very real struggle for students, and decided to get an expert to help students address this problem.
“It can be very difficult to get into a positive mindset after having had bad experiences with math, but we can begin to deal with this by using an ‘acceptance and mindfulness’ approach,” said Assistant Director/Training Director in Counseling Services Jonathan Schmalz-Benson who was the first STEMester speaker in the series.
“It’s an underlying long-term practice to help cope with these kinds of stressful situations. Anxiety can be debilitating, especially if it’s not addressed,” he said. “It’s not about trying to convince yourself out of a bad situation. It’s about a shift in the way you think about stressful emotions.”
Begin by going to the test location early, getting settled, and start breathing first into the abdomen and then into the lungs, Schmalz-Benson said. “This stimulates the vagus nerve, which has a physiologically calming result. Even young kids can practice breathing by putting a stuffed animal on their belly and watching it go up and down.”
He said one strategy that can help with taking exams is to visualize yourself in a bubble and create a mindset of being in the here and now, not acting based on previous experiences. Mindfulness practice can facilitate the ability to stay present with unpleasant memories about math, without getting absorbed in them or having them negatively impact your present-day performance.
“This can ‘inoculate’ an anxious student against external things that amplify the stress — like seeing other students finish a test quicker than they do,” he said.
Acceptance simply means that you remember past mistakes you made without judging yourself, he explains. “You can say, ‘Yes, I did this or that wrong before, and I shouldn’t have. But it’s OK, I learned from that. It’s over, and I’m here doing something else now.’”
Children can learn a lot of messages in childhood, when they might have had struggles in school. “Parents can inadvertently reinforce those attitudes and carry it on. Acceptance and mindfulness does away with that; you don’t judge yourself for the past, you stay in the present, and you connect to the resources to help you learn,” said Schmalz-Benson.
“So, sometimes, even when you’ve studied, you get to the test and you’re too anxious to show your knowledge. If you practice slow breathing and bring yourself to the here and now, you decrease the anxiety and disruptive thoughts and you’ll be in a better position to access the knowledge that you have. This practice has a great impact on dealing with anxiety in general,” he said.
Cox said that he’s had some students with obvious symptoms of anxiety — shortness of breath and even panic attacks — as they approach important exams or assignments in their math classes.
“I noticed that there seems to be a lot of acceptance for students on the autism spectrum, and people seem to be able to talk about it openly,” he said. “But anxiety, depression and other mental health problems are still very hard to discuss, even if they are short-term issues,” Cox said. “The beginning of the school year is a good time to start talking about changing the culture of mental health on our campus. We need to deal more openly with students who have these issues, and validate the fear they feel,” he added.
If you’d like to receive additional tutoring for math, visit www.uhcl.edu/math-center. If you’re experiencing anxiety or would like guidance with any personal or emotional challenges, visit Counseling Services at www.uhcl.edu/counseling-services.
