The Importance Of Teaching Mathematics

Many students worry about Math which refers to math anxiety, this paper investigate the problem of math anxiety, courses, symptoms, remediation and teachers interventions among NCE students in Kano State College of Arts Science and Remedial Studies (CAS) Kano. The paper define anxiety, differences between anxiety, phobia and panic, math anxiety, symptoms of math anxiety, courses of math anxiety and strategies to reduce math anxiety. The following recommendations were made, Students should Learn stress management and relaxation techniques, before taking a test or courses in math, Students should learn to do simple problems first before moving to the complex problems, Mathematics Quiz competitions and debates should be organize by the school

If the teacher is not motivated to teach the subject, then one cannot expect the students to be motivated to learn it (Jackson & Leffingwell, 1999). If the teacher is not happy about teaching Mathematics or does not enjoy being with students in the classroom, then students are less likely to be motivated to learn the Mathematics. b- The teacher should be patient with the students learning Mathematics: Schwartz, (2000) suggest that the teacher needs to understand that it takes time for students to master concepts. Therefore, the teacher must have patience. The teacher should never give up trying to help the students succeed in Mathematics. The teacher needs to give specific examples and applications of Mathematics. The teacher should review basic Mathematics skills with the students. c- Learning mathematics is a building block process. Each step builds on another one. It is imperative when teaching Mathematics that the teacher progresses from simple problems to complex ones (Schwartz, 2000). Students need to be able to do the basics before they can move on to do more complicated

Do “easiest” problems first before the complex problems: Build up your confidence by first doing those problems in an assignment or on a test that you “know” best. It’ll help you relax when you tackle the “harder” stuff.

5. Channel your stress into something else: Free up your mind by relieving some of your physical responses to stress. Get up and walk around the hall for a minute before the test.

6. Start preparing early: If you try to “cram” the material quickly, you are likely to forget it quickly too. But if you practice the material over a period of time, you will have a better understanding of it and are less likely to forget it when under stress.

7. Try to understand the “why” of Math concepts rather than memorizing them: The first thing to go when you are under stress is your short-term memory. This is one reason it is so important to understand that Math is not just a set of rules that you have to memorize but that each concept builds on what came before. If you understand the reason behind the rules, you will remember the concepts better and be able to apply them in many different types of problems. (Davis and Auslander