Start early: foster a positive math climate at home and school to prevent the distal avoidance pathway¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

For the direct/distal pathway, the authors argue intervention must "start early and target the socio-cultural climate in which the child is embedded", since anxious attitudes may be transmitted from parents or teachers and early failure can spark a vicious spiral of avoidance. They advocate fostering a positive learning environment at home and in school, ideally with interventions in primary school that may show compound effects downstream and reduce the later need for desensitization protocols.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Combined effort of schools and parents; early timing in primary school

Constraints¶

• The avoidance interpretation of the direct pathway is untested in this study; the authors propose testing it in younger children where the direct effect should be weaker or nonexistent

Target Learners¶

• children in primary school
• parents and teachers as climate-shaping agents

Target Learning Goals¶

• positive attitudes toward mathematics
• sustained engagement with math courses and number-reliant activities

Related Strategies¶

• Reduce math anxiety in children with DD by improving math achievement early through targeted interventions
• Support parents in providing a rich home literacy environment during the early years to foster emergent reading skills
• Integrate family and school contexts in interventions and promote adolescent academic self-regulation to support the high school transition

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

• Skagerlund K, Östergren R, Västfjäll D, Träff U (2019) How does mathematics anxiety impair mathematical abilities? Investigating the link between math anxiety, working memory, and number processing. PLoS ONE 14(1): e0211283. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211283