Research shows math anxiety begins as early as third grade, shaping confidence, career choices, and academic trajectories for years to come, but one young Israeli entrepreneur believes the solution is simpler than most educators think.
Speaking to i24NEWS’s Innov’Nation anchor Lynn Plagmeijer, Raphael Bernard, 23, founder of math education startup Vedicly argued that the root of math anxiety is not ability, but the moment abstract thinking is introduced and students can no longer rely on counting on their fingers.
“They initially tag themselves,” he said. “They give themselves the title of ‘this is not something I’m good at’ and then they mentally distance themselves from the subject. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Bernard completed Israel’s highest-level matriculation exams at 16 and is now pursuing a master’s degree in mathematics.
Vedicly’s approach, which Bernard calls “trick first, explore later,” works by sending instructors into classrooms to work with groups of up to 15 students. The method opens with an impressive mental math trick, the kind that goes viral on social media, designed to give students an immediate sense of success and curiosity. “You give them the feeling of ‘wait, how did they do that? Let me try,'” Bernard said.
Once that confidence is established, instructors deliberately introduce a situation where the trick breaks down, prompting students to ask why and to work through the problem themselves.
Bernard describes the approach as gamifying math itself rather than just the surrounding experience. “It’s not ‘solve this question and get ten points,'” he said. “What the kids in our lessons want to do is: give me another exercise. The math itself is the fun.” The results, he says, have been striking. Students running to instructors with notebooks, asking not to miss a minute of class, and now requesting summer school sessions during the upcoming break.
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“Math is a tool,” Bernard said. “It’s a tool to enhance the way you think, to enhance analytical and critical thinking.” His goal is for that mindset to take hold well beyond Israel.
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