Increasing Positive Emotion in Math.

 If you read the blog the other day, you'll know that our brains remember more if they have an emotional attachment to the material.  Unfortunately, too many students have negative emotional connections associated with math which creates several problems.

First, many people believe they are not good at math and will never get good at it so they have a mental barrier to learning.


Secondly, if a student does not like math, they are more likely to have lower achievement scores and as soon as they can, they quit taking math or are more likely to take lower level math classes.  This means they are closing themselves to certain career opportunities, especial those of higher earning potential.  It also limits how they will interact with society and it's possibilities.

Right now, if a student struggles with math, one of two things happen.  They are encouraged to work harder or they are moved into a lower level of mathematics.  Unfortunately, neither of these solutions may not help improve student attitude.

So the question becomes, what can we do as teachers to make class more emotionally engaging so students have getter emotional associations with math?  There are ways to do this, some work better with younger students, some with older students but all can help students associate happier emotion with math.

1.  Create authentic inquiry by setting up a situation where students can ask the questions.  It might be drawing a rectangular prism on the board and have students create questions the can be answered from looking at the drawing.  This makes the students operate more as real life mathematicians who guess, question, and narrow their solutions based on repeated results.

2. Always show more than one way to do the math but don't be afraid of asking students to see if they can figure out a way to solve the problem on their own.  This gives them a chance to find counter examples on their own, or set conjectures.  In addition, it motivates students and allows them to develop mathematical creativity.

3. Instead of having students sit in one place the whole period, create opportunities for them to move around.  It could be as simple as asking a multiple choice question, assigning one answer per corner and having students go to the corner they think represents the correct answer.  Or organize a scavenger hunt with at least ten half sheets folded in half.  On the front, write a problem, and on the second page, write an answer but it is not the answer to the problem on the front.  It is the answer to another problem.  These are hung around the room after assigning a letter to each problem. Students have a sheet with boxes.  In the corner of each box is a smaller box where they write the letter of the problem.   The idea is that students start at one paper where they write down the problem, solve it, and then look for the answer.  Once they find the answer they look at the new problem, write it down and it's letter in the box, solve it and repeat it.   I've been known to use QR codes with a problem and answer contained in the code so it uses student devices but they still write the problems down on paper.

4.  When you create an assignment, quiz, or test, set them up so students can choose the problems they want to do.  For instance, you might want to write a quiz with 15 problems and have students answer any 10 problems.  This increases student motivation and makes them feel as if they have some control.

5. Place both examples and non examples on the board before asking students to figure out what makes the topic.  For instance, when discussing spheres, one might post pictures of basketballs, baseballs, or an orange.  For non examples, you could post pictures of bananas, footballs, or boxes.  Let the students use this information to create a list of what characteristics a sphere has.

6. Establish situations where students can collaborate together in a learning environment.  For instance, you can set up Jigsaw activities for sharing vocabulary, create a slide show or book using google slides to have small groups of people share their material with others.

When math becomes more engaging and students feel as if they are taking over more of their learning, they develop positive emotions so they learn the math.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.  I'll be back Monday with a new topic but I will continue to post warm-ups.