Pioneer's Journey

Some students become very anxious
whenever they have to do with a math problem or take a math test.
Psychologist call this "math anxiety".
Teachers used to think that this happened
because the students were not good at math.
Now, however,researchers think that
students who get math anxiety are not necessarily bad at math.
There is a very different reason for their poor performance on math tests.
New studies show that their feeling of anxiety prevent their brains from working well.
One area of the brian that is especially effected is the working memory,
which holds new information in your mind.
This type of memory is essential for doing math problems.
But why do students get math anxiety in the first place?
That is another important question for teachers and researchers in education.