Comment due on the OpenLab Sunday, March 28
“I’m bad at math.”
Everyone on earth, probably
Contents
Background
“I’m bad at math.” This is something I’ve heard from a handful of students (in both of my classes) over the last few weeks. It’s devastating to me to hear anyone say this about themselves…let alone my own students…let alone the students who said it…let alone the time at which they said it (in the middle of actually solving a math problem).
Here’s a big secret: I’ve said this about myself. I have a Ph.D. in math. I write math research papers and get invited to give fancy math research presentations. I’ve taught hundreds (maybe thousands?) of students math in my career. And I have said this about myself tons of times over the years.
Here’s another (not-so-big) secret: I’m bad at pushups. I don’t have a Ph.D. in pushups! I can barely do one pushup! I’m, like, definitely, objectively really really bad at pushups! But it doesn’t make me feel bad when I can’t do a pushup. I really don’t care. So what’s different about math?
There is something unique about math: it can make all of us feel bad about ourselves sometimes. The wife of my good friend (who got his Ph.D. in math the same week I got mine) says this: “You mathematicians…if you do understand something, you think it’s because it’s obvious and easy…if you don’t understand something, you think it’s because it’s impossible and you’re too dumb. When do you ever get to feel good about yourselves?” Doing math can be very humbling. (If you’ve never been challenged doing math, let me know and I’ll find a challenge for you.)
There are lots of intersecting reasons that so many people think they’re bad at math, even when they’re not…especially when they’re not. For example, do this right now: do a Google image search for “mathematician.” Scroll until you see someone who looks like you. Can you find anyone? I haven’t seen all of your faces on Zoom, but I’m willing to bet none of you look like this bro:
Assignment
Choose one of the following prompts. Then write a response of at least 5 sentences and drop it in the comments below.
- Read an article on “math anxiety” (for example this one). Math anxiety is a real thing and there have been tons of articles written on it! Summarize the article. What parts of it resonated the most with you? What is a situation during which you remember experiencing math anxiety in your life? Were you able to overcome it? How? Have your feelings about math changed as you’ve gotten older?
- Go back to the results of your Google image search for “mathematician.” Find a picture of a mathematician who looks like you. What is their name? Research this person’s biography and summarize it for us. What did you find most interesting about their life? What is a question you would ask this person about their life if you could?
- Okay, let’s get personal! Have you ever thought, “I’m bad at math,” yourself? Have you ever said it out loud? How often does this thought come into your head? In what circumstances? What do you do when it happens? Have any of your friends or classmates ever said this about themselves to you? What would you tell your friend if they said “I’m bad at math” to you? What do you think makes people think they’re bad at math? What do you do to challenge these thoughts? How can we support people when they feel like this? (Bonus: respond to someone else’s comment on this prompt; be nice.)
If your response is too long for a comment or if you want to include pictures (especially for prompt #2), feel free to submit your own new post. Use the category Bad at math and copy the link into the comments below.
You will earn participation credit for your comment.
Back to pushups
I’ve never been one to enjoy working out. But over the summer, I started doing these “quick workouts” that appeared in a meditation app I use. These workouts are pretty short and not very advanced, but they’re challenging enough for me to do consistently. And guess what…I still can’t do a pushup! Hahahahaha, but I am getting a lot better at the kind of half-pushup where you keep your knees on the floor! At some point, as long as I keep up the workouts, I’ll be ready to graduate to the full-pushup. (Edit: I’ve totally stopped doing pushups since I first gave this assignment!!)
So here is one more question for you: why do you think am I talking so much to you about pushups in a math class???
The article I chose is “The Myth Fueling Math Anxiety” by Sarah D. Sparks. This article talks about the meaning of Math anxiety and where it comes from. Sparks explains how math anxiety isn’t related to poor math performances but rather to the fear of failing. She also mentions how this fear develops with age and is often created from others’ attitudes towards math and even stereotypes. A part in this article that stood out to me was when Sparks mentions how math anxiety often results in a mental breakdown during a math question where you suddenly go blank and aren’t able to think. This stood out to me the most because this has often happened to me over the years. I have always loved math because I always understood it and I had great teachers explaining it to me. In high school, math became more challenging and in senior year my teacher wasn’t so great at explaining and would get frustrated when my class asked her a question. I would try my best to learn it all on my own and when it came times for the exams my anxiety would kick in and I would panic and forget everything I studied. It came to a point where I didn’t care anymore and I went to tutoring and once I let myself relax I did better. My feelings about Math changed when I started college and I had an amazing professor who made math seem easy and made us all comfortable to mess up sometimes and now I love math again. This often changes as math gets more difficult and if I’m not able to understand it.
The article I chose is “The Myth Fueling Math Anxiety” by Sarah D. Sparks. This article talks about the meaning of Math anxiety and where it comes from. Sparks explains how math anxiety isn’t related to poor math performances but rather to the fear of failing. She also mentions how this fear develops with age and is often created from others’ attitudes towards math and even stereotypes. A part in this article that stood out to me was when Sparks mentions how math anxiety often results in a mental breakdown during a math question where you suddenly go blank and aren’t able to think. This stood out to me the most because this has often happened to me over the years. I have always loved math because I always understood it and I had great teachers explaining it to me. In high school, math became more challenging and in senior year my teacher wasn’t so great at explaining and would get frustrated when my class asked her a question. I would try my best to learn it all on my own and when it came times for the exams my anxiety would kick in and I would panic and forget everything I studied. It came to a point where I didn’t care anymore and I went to tutoring and once I let myself relax I did better. My feelings about Math changed when I started college and I had an amazing professor who made math seem easy and made us all comfortable to mess up sometimes and now I love math again. This often changes as math gets more difficult and if I’m not able to understand it.
I have actually thought to myself I’m bad at math. This thought comes to my head during tests usually. Usually I remind myself that I am only as good at something as much as I practice it. My friends and classmates have said to me that they are bad at math. When somebody says that to me usually I ask them how do they study, because for me personally I find it really difficult to learn from a textbook. I think sometimes people think they are bad at math because they have gaps in their learning and might not understand the math that is required to learn certain concepts. One way we can support people who feel like this is to help them get to the root of the problem.
I have said that I’m bad before and most of the time is when I am lost one a topic with all the given information to help and still not getting it.
So this Phase does not go through my head a lot but when I’m struggling with something and I have the info in front of me it pops up.
When this happens a kind of agree with it and simply like for outsider help since I’m not making an movement to understanding the topic at hand.
I’ve of course had friends say this and most if not all of them did the same process say then go up ask a for classmates or the teacher to see if they can help us with the work.
I think people say this when they spent hours or even a day on one topic to try to get an understanding and makes it no difference with all the time put in. Or, it could be better to say when some thing just does not click.
I personal think that this through is not negative as it seems its like people are saying this in meaning that they should never do math. That I think is wrong however, this phase is said when the person hits a wall enough times for them to think that they bad at math things are not clicking at the same pace as everyone or at the same pace with the class giving the person the idea that they just are not great at math. So with that said when someone is hitting this wall I just try to help with the topic at hand and if I don’t understand topic with them then it gets that idea that is just them and that other people are struggling as well. Or, I just help then get a better understanding of the work so getting rid of any wrong train of thoughts and get them back on track so that the problems don’t seem as hard to do.
I have unfortunately, always told myself that “I am bad at Math” To be honest, I tell myself that every time lately, while preparing myself for the Hot Topic presentations. This may sound very sad, but it is for sure a motivation for me to do better and not give up or drop the class. These circumstances occur when I am really struggling to understand a topic. Moments as such, make me question my abilities. In cases like these I seek out for help from my peers, family and course hub lessons. In my opinion, no one is really bad at math, they just need more time to learn the topic or find alterations to their ways of learning. If my friend had mentioned that they are bad at math, the best option to fix that issue is do it with them, together and solve the issue. Also, another option for that would be going to tutoring and motivating them not to give up, what so ever. People have other things that they may be good at, maybe to approach this problem, they need to use the same techniques they use when they are confident with themselves.