1 Tutor + 1 Student = Better Math Scores, Less Fear – Oceanside
by Stuart Raffeld
From NPR.Org
September 8
The parts of the brain known to help process fear and negative emotion are hyperactive when someone with math anxiety confronts a tricky problem, scientists say.
Math can be as scary as spiders and snakes, at least in the brain of an 8-year-old child. And that early anxiety about dealing with numbers can put a child at a significant disadvantage, not only in school but in negotiating life and a career. Fortunately, a study of third-graders, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests an intervention that can help. One-on-one tutoring does more than teach kids, the researchers say. It calms the fear circuitry in the brain.
“The most exciting aspect of our findings is that cognitive tutoring not only improves performance, but is also anxiety-reducing,” says neuroscientist , the study’s senior author and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
B. A. Operations Research & Statistics, California State University, Long Beach, Teaching Assistant undergraduate Mathematics. B.S. Mathematics, California State University, Long Beach. Mathematics University of California, Irvine, Teaching Assistant undergraduate Mathematics. Completed course work for MS Degree with 4.0 GPA. M.S. Mathematics, Kingsbridge University. Transcript available upon request. 1988-Present: Mathematics tutoring--One on one tutoring for SES students through YP institute and Academic advantage. Tutored students with low learning skills as well as very bright students. Tutored groups of four students in math classes from basic mathematics through calculus. Mathematics teaching for EFN, Inc., a private school.