We always think that American children's math is very simple. American children usually have no homework, and the most important homework is to have fun. If that's what you think, you are all wet. American children, like us, are getting more and more difficult in math every year. Many parents have to face a problem-helping their children finish their math homework. The math problems in the lower grades of primary school are ok, and most adults can cope with them. However, with the rise of children's grades, some parents' limitations in mathematics begin to appear-once faced with the topic of "mathematics", they will feel anxious. Psychologists call this phenomenon "mathematical anxiety".

If parents have this kind of anxiety, they are likely to pass it on to their children when tutoring them.

Mrs s lives in new york. She has two sons. The eldest son is in the fifth grade, and the youngest son is still in kindergarten. Mrs. S herself began to have "math anxiety disorder" around the fourth grade of primary school. At that time, the teacher named her to work out a math problem for everyone on the blackboard, but she couldn't do it. Since then, her math scores have become worse and worse. After the son was in the fifth grade, the husband was sent to work in Europe by the company, and then the children's homework was checked-including math homework, of course. The result was tragic. She has to call her husband in Europe every night, and her husband, she and her son have a conference call together. Sometimes her husband is quite broken, because those math problems are not particularly difficult, but as long as her husband says, "Why can't you check such a simple problem for your child?" Mrs. s will lose her temper and yell at her husband, "I just can't!" " Since then, she has become more and more eager to help her children learn math.

Professor Ashcraft of the University of Nevada specializes in "mathematical anxiety". He said that people with "math anxiety" are not really worse than others in IQ, but anxiety itself makes this person's math ability worse. Because you need to use quite a lot of working memory when solving math problems.

What is working memory? Working memory, also known as short-term memory, is an important concept in psychology and plays a key role in learning, thinking and solving problems.

Worry and anxiety will consume a lot of working memory resources, so that there are not enough resources to solve math problems. The most common example is that you clearly memorized your speech, but standing on the platform, you are too nervous to remember anything, and your brain is blank. Math anxiety can also make anxious people become dull in solving math problems. You can't solve the math problems that should be solved, such as the math problems of primary school students.

The researchers found that in a family, this anxiety can be transmitted from parents to children. Often when parents help their children with their math homework, they will convey this anxiety to their children through language-some parents will say to their children, "My math scores are not good either, so what?"

This is a very bad sentence, which will send a lot of negative information about the ability of "mathematics" to children.

Is it really important to get bad grades in math?

After decades of research, researchers have found that anxiety about "mathematics" will not only affect a person's test scores, but also affect a person's sense of self-esteem and the mathematical problems he faces every day-such as calculating the price of shopping in the supermarket, such as calculating the discount for eating out. The impact on self-esteem may be deeper. People will associate it with "IQ", and some people will say, "I'm a little stupid." Because he is not good at math.

How can parents with poor math scores help their children learn math?

Dr. Cooper is a professor of psychology at Duke University in the United States, specializing in the influence of homework. He advised parents with math anxiety not to help their children with their math homework. Because they will invisibly pass on their anxiety to their children, every time children learn a new math method, parents' anxiety will increase-because they feel that they are increasingly powerless to their children's math class.

In addition, create a positive math environment for children when they are young, and play "math games" with them anytime and anywhere. Tell your child: You have your math homework and I have my math homework. Let children see where you need to use "mathematics" every day, such as calculating the price of goods when you go to the supermarket, calculating the time when you cook, your salary and so on. Then encourage children to calculate the math problems in life by themselves.

Remember that Mrs. s with math anxiety? She began to study mathematics in her spare time. As a responsible mother, she doesn't want her son to be as anxious about math as she is. She hopes she can have confidence in this. A year later, she felt that math was not so difficult.