Resolving Math-Anxiety Through Trauma-Informed Teaching, with Dr Bea Bleile

Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J’aime Rothbard

This conversation explores how academic learning is impacted by a student's emotional state, prior experiences, and the safety of the learning environment. Bea, who has been teaching in various roles since 1993, saw that traditional teaching methods fail to account for the "whole" students who enter the classrooms. This failure often results in elevated student anxiety and hindered learning:

As a teacher committed to evolving current educational institutions and systems, she addresses:
- The impact of negative emotions on learning
- Math Anxiety, where it comes from, when and how it shows up
- Teaching as a shared experience between teacher and student, not just an information transfer
- Systems that discourage vulnerability in teachers, and prioritize conformity over critical thinking
- How acknowledging mathematics’ inherent difficulty can help students overcome anxiety and fear

Bea sees Compassionate Inquiry’s potential to transform the current education system through; creating safety and rapport in classrooms, encouraging students to embrace their struggles, allowing mistakes to help students embody knowledge, educating teachers on students’ nervous system responses and underlying beliefs, and embracing somatic approaches to addressing student blocks.

About Dr Bea Bleile, MSc, PhD

German-born Bea enjoyed mathematics in high school, but her love for the subject blossomed during her undergraduate studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. After earning her diploma, she became an associate lecturer at ETH.  

Wanting to stay in touch with mathematics while caring for her young child, Bea undertook and completed her MSc in homological algebra. Next, she enrolled in a PhD program in low dimensional algebraic topology, and after completing her doctorate, worked as a post-doctoral fellow. 

Today, Bea teaches at the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, NSW. She teaches all undergraduate mathematics units as well as specialized honours and postgraduate units.

A staunch believer in the liberating power of education, after reading Dr Gabor Maté’s book, The Myth of Normal, Bea undertook the Compassionate Inquiry (CI) professional training. Her goal was to expand her ability to teach difficult subjects in accessible ways to support students’ learning experiences. The CI training revealed what may be happening in students’ bodies and psyches when they experience ‘maths anxiety’ or encounter learning blocks. It also equipped Bea with the insights she needs to support students in moving past their blocks. 

Teaching and planting trees are Bea’s preferred ways to contribute to society.

Promotional Message:

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Resources:

Websites:

Dr Bleile's Professional Profile

Related Links:

Paulo Freire  

Bell Hooks

Articles:

Reflections on Compassionate Inquiry® and Teaching Mathematics

Everyone Can Learn Mathematics to High Levels:
The Evidence from Neuroscience that Should Change our Teaching 

Books:

Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom 

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The Myth of Normal

Bell Hooks Books

Quotes:

“Attending school was sheer joy. I loved being a student. I loved learning. School was the place of ecstasy, pleasure and danger. To be changed by ideas was pure pleasure. But to learn ideas that ran counter to values and beliefs learned at home was to place oneself at risk to enter the danger zone. Home was the place where I was forced to conform to someone else's image of who and what I should be. School was the place where I could forget that self and through ideas, reinvent myself.” - Bell Hooks

“If you've managed to learn to read and write, you can do maths. It's like learning another language. You have to work at it. Things won't make sense immediately. And it's hard because it's a very precise language. You try to do a problem and you don't even know where to start. That's normal.” - Bea Bleile

“The knowledge we now have about the working of the brain is so significant, it should bring about a shift in the ways we teach, give messages to students, parent our children, run schools and colleges.”
- Jo Boaler

“Another thing that is important in doing mathematics, I guess in doing everything, but especially in mathematics, is to allow ourselves to make mistakes and to allow ourselves to ask a question as it comes up.” - Bea Bleile

Social Media:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/bea.bleile