Today’s post is from Ed Speaks editorial board member Jill Aurora.
The concept of “math anxiety” isn’t a new one. It’s always seemed to me that people either LOVE math or hate it — there’s not a lot of people who are on the fence about it. I came across a couple of articles last week that got me thinking about math:
There is no shortage of information on why science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education matters and the fact that our country needs to be more focused on STEM if we want to be able to compete in a global marketplace.
Here’s where I am concerned: Math is integral part of all of the STEM subjects, so how does math anxiety and some kids’ downright dislike of the subject play into our future as a country? Do you think that we need to focus more on helping kids learn to actually like math to help promote interest in STEM?
A Queensbury principal offered an interesting perspective on that. He said you’re never going to get most kids to love math, but if you help them be successful at it, you’ll increase their confidence in it as well as their skills. http://poststar.com/news/local/middle-school-s-math-program-leads-to-achievement-in-algebra/article_6d0bc6f4-cdde-11e1-a07a-001a4bcf887a.html
That’s great Mellissa! We included that article in tomorrow’s Friday Rundown, thanks for sharing.