Math is a lot less scary when you have a “fearless frog” at your side.

To help her students feel less anxious about math, Jennifer Laib used a toy stuffed frog to talk about math fears. The K–8 math specialist at Driscoll School in Brookline, Massachusetts, asked second-grade students what it meant to be “fearless” in math. Students offered up concepts like “Ask questions” or “Believe you can do it.”

When students modeled those fearless traits, they were allowed to hold the fearless frog. The result: Kids were excited at the prospect of learning from their mistakes in math instead of fearing them.

Turning fear around can make a major difference in how students learn, especially if you catch it early. Research has shown that math anxiety can develop in students as young as age 5. That anxiety can use up working memory capacity, says psychologist Elizabeth Gunderson, shutting down the very part of the brain children need to learn and master math. And these early negative math experiences will only worsen with time.

“It almost seems paradoxical that those people who have the best memory capacity are actually most negatively affected by anxiety or pressure,” says Gunderson.

Wherever your students fall on the math spectrum, it’s important to understand the root causes of math anxiety and know how to turn things around with a few key strategies.

Solution: Cultivate a Growth Mind-Set

It’s not difficult for Liz Stamson to spot the math-anxious students.

“They shut down,” she says. “They don’t work with other people in a group. They don’t make eye contact with me.”

A fifth-grade teacher at Forest Hills Elementary in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Stamson sees it as part of her job to build students’ confidence.

“We’re helping them see that they can learn math; it’s a mind-set.”

The term mind-set refers to how we view innate ability. To have a “growth mind-set” means believing you can learn and grow in your abilities. A “fixed mind-set” holds that talent is just something you’re born with. According to more than a decade of research first established by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, children with a growth mind-set achieve greater academic success. (Laib’s fearless frog project is one way to address a student’s mind-set about math.)

Encouraging a growth mind-set is not just about praising hard work. Teachers must be specific in their praise. For instance, Laib recently praised a fourth-grade student for how she organized her work and how that showed growth. Being praised for something specific gives students an anchor and “that makes them a lot less anxious,” says Laib.

Another way to cultivate a growth mind-set: Embrace the inquiry-based nature of STEM. “Students with a fixed mind-set tend to avoid failure,” says David Dockterman, an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and chief architect of learning sciences at Scholastic Education. “STEM can help students see the value of learning from mistakes. You reflect, revise, and try again. We model that kind of iterative learning in MATH 180 [Scholastic’s math intervention program]. Students need a classroom environment where learning from mistakes is the norm.”

Problem: Students Vary Widely In Abilities

Solution: Start from a place of comfort and build on that

To reduce math anxiety, teachers need to build on all of a student’s strengths.

Julia Maier, a first-grade teacher at Stephen K. Hayt Elementary School in Chicago, has had to rethink how she approaches math. She starts each lesson with a warm-up “so kids enter the math lesson feeling confident.”

Stamson often lets students choose their math partners. If she picks the partners, she remains mindful of students’ strengths and personality dynamics. When you pair a math–confident kid with one who is more math-anxious, for example, both end up benefiting. A student who is confident in math still needs to see a problem from multiple perspectives, Stamson notes.

“Everybody’s learning from one another, no matter the confidence level,” she says.

Problem: Aversion To Certain Areas Of Math

Solution: Allow for multiple pathways

Laib recalls how she worked with a second grader who was “miserable” about subtraction. She showed the student how to use an open number line strategy to find a solution. When the student realized it was okay to use this different strategy “that made all the difference,” says Laib.

In the past, says Stamson, she would show students how to solve a problem and then the students would practice it. Now, she presents the problem and students share how they came up with the answer.

“The students really become the teachers of the strategies they use and the procedures they follow,” she notes.

Stamson will also offer a shortcut, or conventional algorithm, but she has one rule: “You don’t use that shortcut until you feel confident that you understand how it works.”