Math anxiety prevents many liberal arts undergraduates from appreciating mathematics and realizing their potential in math courses and math-related endeavors. The author describes his development and use of a  math therapy exercise  that enables students to move beyond the paralyzing grip of math anxiety and cultivate a more positive relationship with mathematics

Stogsdill, Gary

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Keck Graduate Institute

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics 
Volume 3 | Issue 2 July 2013 
A Math Therapy Exercise 
Gary Stogsdill 
Prescott College 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm 
 Part of the Other Mathematics Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Stogsdill, G. "A Math Therapy Exercise," Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume 3 Issue 2 (July 
2013), pages 121-126. DOI: 10.5642/jhummath.201302.09 . Available at: 
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol3/iss2/9 
©2013 by the authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. 
JHM is an open access bi-annual journal sponsored by the Claremont Center for the Mathematical Sciences and 
published by the Claremont Colleges Library | ISSN 2159-8118 | http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/ 
The editorial staff of JHM works hard to make sure the scholarship disseminated in JHM is accurate and upholds 
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A Math Therapy Exercise 
Cover Page Footnote 
I want to thank Rich Lewis for his encouragement. 
This the world of mathematics is available in Journal of Humanistic Mathematics: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/
jhm/vol3/iss2/9 
A Math Therapy Exercise
Gary Stogsdill
Limited-Residency Undergraduate Program, Prescott College, Prescott, AZ
gstogsdill@prescott.edu
Synopsis
Math anxiety prevents many liberal arts undergraduates from appreciating math-
ematics and realizing their potential in math courses and math-related endeavors.
The author describes his development and use of a “math therapy exercise” that
enables students to move beyond the paralyzing grip of math anxiety and culti-
vate a more positive relationship with mathematics.
I will always remember that first meeting of the very first math course I
taught at Prescott College in 1990. Two of the nine enrolled students came
separately to the classroom door to tell me they were sorry but they just
could not enter a math classroom because of feeling so much anxiety from
past experiences trying to learn math. That is when I knew that teaching
general mathematics at a progressive student-centered liberal arts college
might be more challenging than anticipated.
Having just finished a master’s degree that focused on alternative peda-
gogies for adult learners, and with three years of prior experience teaching
math courses at the local community college, I expected to be in my element
teaching mathematics at Prescott College. Then the first thing I encounter is
students telling me they are too traumatized to enter my classroom! Nothing
from my graduate studies had prepared me for this.
I talked with the traumatized students and told them I would provide a
special activity that would help with their math anxiety, if they would please
just come into the classroom. I actually had no idea what this “special
activity” would be; I was just trying to get the students to come to class.
When these students did return I spontaneously asked all of the students
to journal about their past experiences with math, and then I invited them
to share whatever they wished with the rest of the class. To my surprise
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics Vol 3, No 2, July 2013
122 A Math Therapy Exercise
all of the students shared poignant negative past experiences, and they all
validated and supported one another beautifully during the discussion. The
two traumatized students discovered they were not alone and opened up
to the course, with everyone experiencing success in the course. Thus was
born the math therapy exercise that has become the mainstay of every first
meeting of every math course I have taught since 1990.
The current form of this math therapy exercise invites students to address
six topics.
• My earliest memory or memories of math.
• When and why math became difficult for me (if it did become difficult).
• My worst memory or memories of math.
• My best memory or memories of math.
• How I really feel about math.
• How I really feel about taking this course.
After journaling extensively students are invited to share with the rest of the
class as much of this narrative as they are comfortable sharing. Now that I
teach in the Limited-Residency Undergraduate Program at Prescott College
and my math courses are online, students share through an online forum.
While on the surface this may seem like an innocuous activity, I have
witnessed hundreds of apprehensive students ease into my math courses with
a new attitude of hope and openness rather than dread and anxiety, primarily
because of it. Dredging up unpleasant math memories, processing them on
paper, and then sharing them in a supportive peer environment can work
wonders toward releasing the paralyzing grip of math anxiety.
The main course I currently teach is Mathematical Explorations, a hu-
manistic math course that I created for undergraduate liberal arts students
at Prescott College. Of course, not all liberal arts undergraduates suffer
from math anxiety, but I have discovered through the math therapy exer-
cise that a surprising number of them do. Based on what students write in
this exercise, as indicated by the use of emotion-laden words like anxiety,
aversion, afraid, intimidated, terrified, and traumatized, I estimate that well
over half of the students I have taught in the past twenty-three years entered
Gary Stogsdill 123
my courses firmly in the grip of math anxiety. Even students who like math
may have experienced something negative regarding math in their past. Of
the 132 students who enrolled in Mathematical Explorations in the last two
years, only four did not remember a negative past experience with math.
This suggests that a math therapy exercise could be beneficial for virtually
every liberal arts undergraduate.
The following is an example, taken from one of my recently completed
courses, showing what the math therapy exercise looks like after students
complete the initial journaling on the six topics above. I have condensed the
initial journal narrative, with the responses given in their entirety.
Here is the initial journal narrative, posted to the Therapy Forum:
“My earliest memory of math was learning addition in elemen-
tary school alongside my sister. She was a natural at math. I
don’t remember struggling really with math, but I do remember
feeling like I was not as good as my sister. So I decided at an
early age to let my sister be the math/science child and I was the
abstract/expressive child.
As I sit here thinking about my academic career I begin to wonder
if my aversion to math has more to do with this early decision to
not be a “math kid” than actually struggling with the content of
the subject. However, I know I have always struggled with sitting
through any math course and almost never completed homework
assignments without at least an hour of procrastination.
I cannot help but wonder if my discomfort with math as a whole
could have been avoided if 1) I did not fight studying math so
fiercely as a young student, and 2) I did not bomb a math compe-
tition in fifth grade. Fifth grade was a hard year for me for many
reasons including “the math incident.” My teacher felt that the
best way to learn math was to have students compete against each
other. Two teams would be chosen, and then members of each
team would stand up to be quizzed on math. Sadly, I was chosen
to stand in front of the class to answer questions about the mul-
tiplication tables. My teacher asked me nine questions, of which
I answered none of them correctly. My peers made fun of me for
an entire week. From that day forward when I knew there was
going to be another competition day I pretended to be sick.
124 A Math Therapy Exercise
Now that I am older I wish I had not let experiences from when
I was younger impact my relationship with math. Mathematics
seems so interesting to me when it is applied to engineering, com-
puters, and other practical applications. I also feel a sense of loss
when thinking about how I will never truly appreciate advanced
math forms the way people do who had a richer experience with
the subject. I hope taking this course will kindle something in me
that was taken away at such a young age. I hope this class will
allow me to become inspired by a subject I have spent so many
years avoiding or suffering through.”
Here are four student responses:
• “Thank you for sharing your story with us. I too look back on my
experiences with math and regret that it has impacted me so much.”
• “ I understand that sense of regret for not pursuing more math educa-
tion. I’d always assumed that my lack of math knowledge would keep me
out of so many fields I had been interested in, especially the sciences.
It’s never too late to learn though!”
• “This exercise has really made me realize how those initial childhood
experiences with math have affected me all of my life. I didn’t have an
older sibling to differentiate from, but I do remember those excruciating
math contests: standing in front of the class and racing to get to the
right answer before the other teams. I too pleaded sick if there was a
math activity I knew about. Just remembering and sharing these expe-
riences is releasing the trauma. How lucky we are to get to experience
a different approach to math!”
• “Thanks for sharing your story. After reading everyone’s assignments
it really makes you realize what a lasting effect our first foundations
and experiences of math have. With that, I think this assignment is
a great way to start and I feel that this class will give us all who had
struggles and math anxiety a new perspective.”
This example illustrates two common outcomes of the math therapy ex-
ercise. First, the initial journal narrative does not just wallow in unpleasant
math memories and regrets of a lost relationship with mathematics, but
Gary Stogsdill 125
rather processes those memories from an adult perspective that expresses
hope for a new experience of appreciating math. Second, the responses to
the initial journal narrative do more than just commiserate with the mis-
fortune of shared unpleasant math memories, although such commiseration
is an important part of the process. In addition to that, though, these re-
sponses turn naturally toward hope for a new experience with math in the
future.
As the instructor, I find myself needing to do little or nothing to facilitate
the process of this math therapy exercise. Students always seem to know
what to do with this exercise in order to gain therapeutic benefit, as the
above example illustrates. When I taught in the classroom, I only needed to
move the discussion along as one would with any class discussion. With the
online courses I do nothing except communicate privately with students to
acknowledge the content of their journaling and express my own commitment
for them to have a positive learning experience in our current course.
How well does this math therapy exercise actually work to reduce math
anxiety? Though I have not tried to quantify its effectiveness, I receive ample
anecdotal evidence about the value of this exercise. As with other courses
at Prescott College, at the end of Mathematical Explorations all students
complete a narrative self-evaluation as well as a course questionnaire that
invites them to comment on what they found particularly helpful about the
course. A recurring theme from these narratives is some variation of this
sentiment expressed in a self-evaluation from my most recent class: “I no
longer have a fear of math.” Some students also offer unsolicited comments
on some personal perceived benefits of the math therapy exercise. Following
are four representative comments taken from my last two courses:
• “By first addressing my math trauma and the conceptions about math
that I developed in childhood. . . I was able to let go of my preconceptions
and enter into a new relationship with math.”
• “Writing an essay about my math experiences not only helped me better
understand my associated trauma, but inspired me to bring my best
thinking to this class—even when I remained uncertain.”
• “In this course I was able to discuss my history, setbacks, and frustra-
tions with math with my online peers in the math therapy essay. What
I discovered was a lot of personal issues that stemmed from ego, doubt,
126 A Math Therapy Exercise
and anxiety. . . This exercise led me to discover how my reactions would
lead to doubting my math ability and essentially not trusting myself
with math. Reading my peers reactions to the exercise helped create a
welcoming platform to approach this course.”
• “My mind was set at ease after exploring my path with past math anxi-
ety in our first assigned paper [the math therapy exercise]. After reading
my classmates’ papers, although we all had different experiences, it felt
as if we were all in it together.”
Finally, I asked one of the students who participated in the above example
of the Therapy Forum to respond briefly to this prompt: Now that you
have completed Mathematical Explorations, please describe how you think the
math therapy exercise benefited you, if at all, in that course. This student’s
response follows.
“I was surprised to learn that many people shared traumatic expe-
riences in their early math education. Simply knowing that others
struggled as I did helped me feel supported, understood, and less
intimidated as I went through the course. By expressing my fears
and blocks about math, it released them and allowed me to recog-
nize them but not be controlled by them. Throughout the course
fellow students felt free to refer to early negative experiences, and
I believe by recognizing the “elephant in the living room” we were
all able to find a new connection and appreciation for math. As
I have gone into other courses, my stress level with math is down
and my confidence has gone way up. What was my most dreaded
course became one of my favorites!”
For me, teaching math courses to liberal arts undergraduates is as much
about cultivating interest and appreciation for mathematics as it is about
teaching content. With a small investment of class time, this math therapy
exercise can create a positive, hopeful energy, both individually and collec-
tively, that sets the stage for the rest of the course to be not only successful
but also meaningful. Such a positive experience in one math course can
completely change a student’s negative attitude toward mathematics, with
beneficial implications for future coursework and life endeavors.
Acknowledgment: I want to thank Rich Lewis for his encouragement.


English

A Math Therapy Exercise

Gary Stogsdill

Crossref

Scholarship@Claremont

Journal of Humanistic MathematicsVolume 3 | Issue 2 July 2013A Math Therapy ExerciseGary StogsdillPrescott College, gary.stogsdill@prescott.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhmPart of the Other Mathematics Commons©2013 by the authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.JHM is an open access bi-annual journal sponsored by the Claremont Center for the MathematicalSciences and published by the Claremont Colleges Library | ISSN 2159-8118 | http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/Recommended CitationStogsdill, G. "A Math Therapy Exercise," Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume 3 Issue 2 ( July 2013), pages 121-126. DOI:10.5642/jhummath.201302.09 . Available at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol3/iss2/9A Math Therapy ExerciseCover Page FootnoteI want to thank Rich Lewis for his encouragement.This the world of mathematics is available in Journal of Humanistic Mathematics: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol3/iss2/9A Math Therapy ExerciseGary StogsdillLimited-Residency Undergraduate Program, Prescott College, Prescott, AZgstogsdill@prescott.eduSynopsisMath anxiety prevents many liberal arts undergraduates from appreciating math-ematics and realizing their potential in math courses and math-related endeavors.The author describes his development and use of a “math therapy exercise” thatenables students to move beyond the paralyzing grip of math anxiety and culti-vate a more positive relationship with mathematics.I will always remember that first meeting of the very first math course Itaught at Prescott College in 1990. Two of the nine enrolled students cameseparately to the classroom door to tell me they were sorry but they justcould not enter a math classroom because of feeling so much anxiety frompast experiences trying to learn math. That is when I knew that teachinggeneral mathematics at a progressive student-centered liberal arts collegemight be more challenging than anticipated.Having just finished a master’s degree that focused on alternative peda-gogies for adult learners, and with three years of prior experience teachingmath courses at the local community college, I expected to be in my elementteaching mathematics at Prescott College. Then the first thing I encounter isstudents telling me they are too traumatized to enter my classroom! Nothingfrom my graduate studies had prepared me for this.I talked with the traumatized students and told them I would provide aspecial activity that would help with their math anxiety, if they would pleasejust come into the classroom. I actually had no idea what this “specialactivity” would be; I was just trying to get the students to come to class.When these students did return I spontaneously asked all of the studentsto journal about their past experiences with math, and then I invited themto share whatever they wished with the rest of the class. To my surpriseJournal of Humanistic Mathematics Vol 3, No 2, July 2013122 A Math Therapy Exerciseall of the students shared poignant negative past experiences, and they allvalidated and supported one another beautifully during the discussion. Thetwo traumatized students discovered they were not alone and opened upto the course, with everyone experiencing success in the course. Thus wasborn the math therapy exercise that has become the mainstay of every firstmeeting of every math course I have taught since 1990.The current form of this math therapy exercise invites students to addresssix topics.• My earliest memory or memories of math.• When and why math became difficult for me (if it did become difficult).• My worst memory or memories of math.• My best memory or memories of math.• How I really feel about math.• How I really feel about taking this course.After journaling extensively students are invited to share with the rest of theclass as much of this narrative as they are comfortable sharing. Now that Iteach in the Limited-Residency Undergraduate Program at Prescott Collegeand my math courses are online, students share through an online forum.While on the surface this may seem like an innocuous activity, I havewitnessed hundreds of apprehensive students ease into my math courses witha new attitude of hope and openness rather than dread and anxiety, primarilybecause of it. Dredging up unpleasant math memories, processing them onpaper, and then sharing them in a supportive peer environment can workwonders toward releasing the paralyzing grip of math anxiety.The main course I currently teach is Mathematical Explorations, a hu-manistic math course that I created for undergraduate liberal arts studentsat Prescott College. Of course, not all liberal arts undergraduates sufferfrom math anxiety, but I have discovered through the math therapy exer-cise that a surprising number of them do. Based on what students write inthis exercise, as indicated by the use of emotion-laden words like anxiety,aversion, afraid, intimidated, terrified, and traumatized, I estimate that wellover half of the students I have taught in the past twenty-three years enteredGary Stogsdill 123my courses firmly in the grip of math anxiety. Even students who like mathmay have experienced something negative regarding math in their past. Ofthe 132 students who enrolled in Mathematical Explorations in the last twoyears, only four did not remember a negative past experience with math.This suggests that a math therapy exercise could be beneficial for virtuallyevery liberal arts undergraduate.The following is an example, taken from one of my recently completedcourses, showing what the math therapy exercise looks like after studentscomplete the initial journaling on the six topics above. I have condensed theinitial journal narrative, with the responses given in their entirety.Here is the initial journal narrative, posted to the Therapy Forum:“My earliest memory of math was learning addition in elemen-tary school alongside my sister. She was a natural at math. Idon’t remember struggling really with math, but I do rememberfeeling like I was not as good as my sister. So I decided at anearly age to let my sister be the math/science child and I was theabstract/expressive child.As I sit here thinking about my academic career I begin to wonderif my aversion to math has more to do with this early decision tonot be a “math kid” than actually struggling with the content ofthe subject. However, I know I have always struggled with sittingthrough any math course and almost never completed homeworkassignments without at least an hour of procrastination.I cannot help but wonder if my discomfort with math as a wholecould have been avoided if 1) I did not fight studying math sofiercely as a young student, and 2) I did not bomb a math compe-tition in fifth grade. Fifth grade was a hard year for me for manyreasons including “the math incident.” My teacher felt that thebest way to learn math was to have students compete against eachother. Two teams would be chosen, and then members of eachteam would stand up to be quizzed on math. Sadly, I was chosento stand in front of the class to answer questions about the mul-tiplication tables. My teacher asked me nine questions, of whichI answered none of them correctly. My peers made fun of me foran entire week. From that day forward when I knew there wasgoing to be another competition day I pretended to be sick.124 A Math Therapy ExerciseNow that I am older I wish I had not let experiences from whenI was younger impact my relationship with math. Mathematicsseems so interesting to me when it is applied to engineering, com-puters, and other practical applications. I also feel a sense of losswhen thinking about how I will never truly appreciate advancedmath forms the way people do who had a richer experience withthe subject. I hope taking this course will kindle something in methat was taken away at such a young age. I hope this class willallow me to become inspired by a subject I have spent so manyyears avoiding or suffering through.”Here are four student responses:• “Thank you for sharing your story with us. I too look back on myexperiences with math and regret that it has impacted me so much.”• “ I understand that sense of regret for not pursuing more math educa-tion. I’d always assumed that my lack of math knowledge would keep meout of so many fields I had been interested in, especially the sciences.It’s never too late to learn though!”• “This exercise has really made me realize how those initial childhoodexperiences with math have affected me all of my life. I didn’t have anolder sibling to differentiate from, but I do remember those excruciatingmath contests: standing in front of the class and racing to get to theright answer before the other teams. I too pleaded sick if there was amath activity I knew about. Just remembering and sharing these expe-riences is releasing the trauma. How lucky we are to get to experiencea different approach to math!”• “Thanks for sharing your story. After reading everyone’s assignmentsit really makes you realize what a lasting effect our first foundationsand experiences of math have. With that, I think this assignment isa great way to start and I feel that this class will give us all who hadstruggles and math anxiety a new perspective.”This example illustrates two common outcomes of the math therapy ex-ercise. First, the initial journal narrative does not just wallow in unpleasantmath memories and regrets of a lost relationship with mathematics, butGary Stogsdill 125rather processes those memories from an adult perspective that expresseshope for a new experience of appreciating math. Second, the responses tothe initial journal narrative do more than just commiserate with the mis-fortune of shared unpleasant math memories, although such commiserationis an important part of the process. In addition to that, though, these re-sponses turn naturally toward hope for a new experience with math in thefuture.As the instructor, I find myself needing to do little or nothing to facilitatethe process of this math therapy exercise. Students always seem to knowwhat to do with this exercise in order to gain therapeutic benefit, as theabove example illustrates. When I taught in the classroom, I only needed tomove the discussion along as one would with any class discussion. With theonline courses I do nothing except communicate privately with students toacknowledge the content of their journaling and express my own commitmentfor them to have a positive learning experience in our current course.How well does this math therapy exercise actually work to reduce mathanxiety? Though I have not tried to quantify its effectiveness, I receive ampleanecdotal evidence about the value of this exercise. As with other coursesat Prescott College, at the end of Mathematical Explorations all studentscomplete a narrative self-evaluation as well as a course questionnaire thatinvites them to comment on what they found particularly helpful about thecourse. A recurring theme from these narratives is some variation of thissentiment expressed in a self-evaluation from my most recent class: “I nolonger have a fear of math.” Some students also offer unsolicited commentson some personal perceived benefits of the math therapy exercise. Followingare four representative comments taken from my last two courses:• “By first addressing my math trauma and the conceptions about maththat I developed in childhood. . . I was able to let go of my preconceptionsand enter into a new relationship with math.”• “Writing an essay about my math experiences not only helped me betterunderstand my associated trauma, but inspired me to bring my bestthinking to this class—even when I remained uncertain.”• “In this course I was able to discuss my history, setbacks, and frustra-tions with math with my online peers in the math therapy essay. WhatI discovered was a lot of personal issues that stemmed from ego, doubt,126 A Math Therapy Exerciseand anxiety. . . This exercise led me to discover how my reactions wouldlead to doubting my math ability and essentially not trusting myselfwith math. Reading my peers reactions to the exercise helped create awelcoming platform to approach this course.”• “My mind was set at ease after exploring my path with past math anxi-ety in our first assigned paper [the math therapy exercise]. After readingmy classmates’ papers, although we all had different experiences, it feltas if we were all in it together.”Finally, I asked one of the students who participated in the above exampleof the Therapy Forum to respond briefly to this prompt: Now that youhave completed Mathematical Explorations, please describe how you think themath therapy exercise benefited you, if at all, in that course. This student’sresponse follows.“I was surprised to learn that many people shared traumatic expe-riences in their early math education. Simply knowing that othersstruggled as I did helped me feel supported, understood, and lessintimidated as I went through the course. By expressing my fearsand blocks about math, it released them and allowed me to recog-nize them but not be controlled by them. Throughout the coursefellow students felt free to refer to early negative experiences, andI believe by recognizing the “elephant in the living room” we wereall able to find a new connection and appreciation for math. AsI have gone into other courses, my stress level with math is downand my confidence has gone way up. What was my most dreadedcourse became one of my favorites!”For me, teaching math courses to liberal arts undergraduates is as muchabout cultivating interest and appreciation for mathematics as it is aboutteaching content. With a small investment of class time, this math therapyexercise can create a positive, hopeful energy, both individually and collec-tively, that sets the stage for the rest of the course to be not only successfulbut also meaningful. Such a positive experience in one math course cancompletely change a student’s negative attitude toward mathematics, withbeneficial implications for future coursework and life endeavors.Acknowledgment: I want to thank Rich Lewis for his encouragement.

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