My latest column, Taking the Sting out of Math Anxiety, has been published in the summer-fall 2025 issue of the Prison Mathematics Project newsletter. This remarkable (free) newsletter is available in paper and pdf form to male and female inmates and staff of American prisons. My column offers insights and strategies for inmates hoping to re-engage with mathematics while incarcerated. 

In this column, I address the (real) issue of math anxiety, that hampers many people from engaging or re-engaging with math studies. Math anxiety can arise in many varied circumstances, reflecting low self-confidence, previous negative experiences and fear of being shunned. Math anxiety has been acknowledged and studied for decades resulting in the development of many helpful resources and strategies for helping students positively anticipate new math experiences and build foundations of new habits contributing to learning success.

Unfortunately, some students never learn about new approaches to engaging (positively) with math and just ‘shut down’ at the thought of opening a math textbook or facing a math worksheet. I encourage these students to address their anxieties and seek help from supportive mentors, teachers and other colleagues who are achieving success in math studies. Find your entry place through puzzles or games, or subjects of interest that have a math foundation. You don’t have to start with a math textbook!

Keep at it, and good luck!