Ingemar Karlsson has been a teacher in mathematics. But for the past six years he has researched at Lund University about students with difficulties in mathematics and the thoughts of pupils and teachers about this. The doctoral thesis is now complete. Eleven schools in Northwest Skåne and a total of 25,000 pupils' results were included in the survey. Like conversations with some 30 people.
Simple equations with numbers alone are no problem for most people. But when it starts to get more complicated - suddenly the letter x pops up - roughly every fifth student suffers from math anxiety.
When Ingemar Karlsson asked students and teachers why this is, he got completely different answers. The students' explanation for the math anxiety is, among other things, frequent teacher changes and uneasy work environment. Teacher's response: The problems are mainly with the students themselves.
What to do about the problem?
- We need prepared lessons with variation so that the students feel they are good enough. And a reorganization of the teaching so that they discuss and talk to the students about new things in mathematics, says Ingemar Karlsson.
In the video above, researchers and students explain why math can be so difficult. And gives tips on how it can be easier and more fun.