How Much of Learning Maths is Attributed to Confidence?

What is the context of ‘Confidence’ in Maths?

Having confidence in maths is the ability to embrace the fact that mistakes are definitely going to be made during the problem solving maths process and it is important not to be hindered by this fact. 

How does confidence manifest itself in acquiring Maths knowledge?

As a mathematics teacher I learned very quickly that those students that were less fearful about recovering from mathematical errors, i.e. getting the wrong answer, were the most successful in acquiring more maths knowledge. Those students that were more confident in their ability to eventually solve the maths problem were more patient with themselves and this resulted in them going on further to break maths problems into manageable steps. Those that were less confident would most likely become frustrated with themselves, often berate themselves, even get angry, likely give up or become disruptive. They seem to have no idea of how to remove this thought process from their minds which is detrimental to the learning of maths.

How can a teacher increase confidence in a student?

Experience has taught me that a lack of confidence in maths is usually built on a foundation of a fragility. These students are not necessarily confident to begin with. So I guess the place to start is restoring confidence in students which involves an enormous amount of verbal belief. That is telling them at every opportunity that they can do it. It works, I know this because I did it. 

I teach year 10 through to 12 in mathematics. I inherited whatever teaching methods they were used to up until that point. I also inherited whatever they thought about maths up until that point. There were a group of students that thought they couldn’t do maths and had already given up before the academic year had started. Two things I believe in are the power of words and the impact they have on student's confidence. 

This was proven when I discovered that a third of my new class had no confidence in their ability and no confidence in me changing this. Let me be clear, having no confidence in maths does not equate to the student wanting to fail in maths. In my experience every single student wants to do well. The challenge for me was how do I convince these students that they can do well in maths? 

The first thing was to pair those students with no confidence with those that have. Next was to tell them to be comfortable with getting things wrong in maths. I reiterated the normality of this fact since not one single person has got every single mathematical problem right the first time. Those that make less mistakes over time are those that are willing to persevere with the problem. 

Then the real confidence building started; I decided I would tell those students, that told themselves that they couldn’t do maths, that they could and I was going to prove it to them. I was able to prove it straight away by discussing all the ways they currently do maths. Calculating change, managing time; cooking; budgeting their pocket money etc. Every lesson like a broken record, I would tell them they could do maths. Have you ever heard of the saying ‘fake it until you make it’?

Even when I became frustrated I continued to tell them. Of course initially I had no idea if this would work. After a couple of months of assessing, I had seen for myself I was right (asides from those students who had special educational needs who needed specialist support) it was clear to me they all had the ability to at the very least obtain a grade C in maths. It took up to a year for them to believe me. 

Six months later, I started to see real results of what happens when a teacher believes in a student. Those students that had given up previously, started working and the results were phenomenal. A 75% pass rate and a new attitude for those that are retaking. 

Of course confidence is only one crucial aspect of success in teaching maths. With confidence a student will keep on at it. Keeping on at maths increases the likelihood of eventually solving the problem. Taking longer to solve the problem enables the steps to be examined in more detail. Examining the steps in more detail potentially leads to a higher rate in retention.

A lot of steps in maths problems are transferable. For example, factorising quadratic equations involves examining factors and adding fractions involves examining factors also. This is just one instance of many instances using the same problem solving skill to solve many problems.

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