Mathematics - It
is to the typical ‘Non Mathematical lover’ person what The Joker is to the
Batman, what Dr Octopus is to Spiderman, what a positron is to an electron. What
is it about Math that puts people off and elicits such contempt and anger? Is
it the ‘exotic’ and ‘creepy’ style of representation or the seemingly abstract
and intangible nature of this beautiful subject that makes people wary of it?
And is it really justified? We believe that this fear and to be more specific,
mathematical anxiety is a cause of multiple external factors exacerbated
further by the mental block that students and in general, people have towards
this subject. Much of this anxiety happens in the
classroom due to the lack of consideration of different learning styles of
students. Teachers, as representatives of this subject must take special care
to re-engineer their teaching style in order to present Math in a way which
reduces anxiety and develops an inquisitiveness and curiosity. But teachers too
are limited due to some reasons and even if they want to, can’t go beyond the
prescribed curriculum.
This is just one of the factors
which if amended, can abate the serious issue of ‘Mathematical Anxiety’. We
have discussed this topic at length in a video episode. You can watch that
episode here- Episode Link
