I just read an article in the  May 2011 issue of  Journal of Developmental Education It’s written by Barbara Bonham and Hunter Boylan, two major authorities in developmental education, and is entitled Developmental Mathematics: Challenges, Promising Practices, and Recent Initiatives (2011).  They talked about the importance not only of the cognitive skills needed to do well in math, but the affective skills needed as well. 

What is meant by affective skills?  Essentially affective skills include how one thinks about math. Do I believe, for instance, that I will be successful in math?  Many of our students believe the opposite.  Likely, this belief has been learned through past experience.  This negative perception influences a student’s motivation, persistence, success as well as the kind of tasks he/she chooses. 

In educational psychology, this is known as self-efficacy or people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce a certain outcome and to exercise influence over the events that affect their lives (Bandura, 1994). 

In simple terms,positive self-efficacy is the belief that we have the ability to do well in in the tasks we perform and that we have an impact in our lives. 

In thinking about math, in particular, many students don’t have feelings of positive  self-efficacy.  They doubt their ability to be successful and think that they really can’t do anything to change this.  This belief is often learned through their  past experiences with math including what they’ve heard from teachers, parents, media as well as their past failures in math.

So…what can be done to help students increase a student’s self-efficacy in math?  How can we help students believe in their ability to “do math”?  This is the million dollar question.

One thing that could and does help is to set up the learning environment such that students experience success as soon as possible.  This might mean giving quizzes more frequently, allowing students to progress in a self-paced way, or by contextualizing math so that it makes more sense to students   

Providing opportunities for success in math, no matter how it’s done, will likely increase a student’s motivation, persistence, grades, and overall attitude. In the end, changing the way a student thinks about math can really make a difference.

Bandura, A. (1997).  Self-efficacy:The exercise of self-control, NY:W.H. Freeman and Company