The title of this essay is an adapted line from an E. E. Cummings poem, since feeling is first (1926): “who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you.” We argue for the power and necessity of the individual frame in higher education and for the role of specialists in establishing and supporting that frame without sacrificing rigor. Lunchtime discussions of college math education inspired this essay.
A Fortified Lunch
Pausing to join diverse colleagues at lunch is among the academy’s greatest pleasures. One day Patrick, a math professor, spoke about his discovery that students were freed to perform better when their prior “math trauma” was acknowledged. For years, he had endeavored to understand and dismantle impediments to success in developmental mathematics courses (Sullivan, 2024) and his sincere testimony was inspiring. Indeed, it inspired an ongoing conversation that continues to welcome new participants. We hope readers of this brief essay will consider reaching out to collaborate with us.
As a psychology professor and ABPP specialist, Tim enjoyed the opportunity to discuss how the math professor might consider leveraging psychological theories and measurement to test his pedagogy. Together, we’ve found some evidence to support his observation that students who report prior traumatic experiences in math education perform more poorly in college math, and purposeful related pedagogy appears to be producing gains in math-specific self-efficacy and performance. Patrick’s pedagogy is predicated on substantial, college-level learning goals pursued through frequent assignments designed to teach, practice, and “diagnose” misunderstandings. He doesn’t excuse failure but he names and compassionately discusses with students the causes of failure – including but not limited to low self-efficacy rising from difficult past experiences of math education. As students complete the dozens of assignments through the semester, they are explicitly encouraged to monitor their growing confidence as math people.
From the outset of our conversations, we sought to move beyond use of the term “math trauma.” Life events are frequently upcoded to “trauma” in public discourse, resulting in confusion and few testable hypotheses. We have now landed on mapping the rich literature (e.g., Finkelhor, 2020; Narayan et al., 2023) related to Adverse Childhood Experiences and Benevolent Childhood experiences onto the domain of personal education history.
A Simple Experiment
In our resulting exploratory study, students are introduced to our definitions for Adverse Educational Experience (AEE) and Benevolent Educational Experience (BEE), invited to identify whether these experiences are part of their own history, and asked in an experiment to judge whether a vignette portrays an AEE, as follows:
Participants were randomly assigned to read one of the following vignettes and answer the question: Would Taylor be correct to remember this as an Adverse Educational Experience?
[Vignette A] Taylor did not read the assigned material or study for the test, and Taylor earned an F. Taylor felt humiliated and discouraged upon receiving the grade. The teacher discussed the problem with Taylor and encouraged Taylor to invest more time in coursework.
[Vignette B] Taylor did not read the assigned material or study for the test, and Taylor earned an F. Taylor felt humiliated and discouraged upon receiving the grade. The teacher discussed the problem with Taylor, expressed concern about Taylor’s feelings, and encouraged Taylor to invest more time in coursework.
Findings to date have innervated energetic lunch conversations. Half of the students reading Vignette A identified it as an AEE – and the frequency of that perception surprised us given the manifest reason for failure in the vignette. That perception was reduced by a factor of four (one-eighth) for students reading Vignette B (p < .05). The only difference between the vignettes is the teacher’s acknowledgement of and concern for Taylor’s feelings. And that really got us thinking.
A Line of Poetry
We briefly considered generational stereotypes of poignancy and demandingness. Patrick, however, redirected our conversation to the individual. Perhaps professors can loosely borrow the “individual frame” from behavioral economics as a cautionary reminder that a problem frame is necessary but not sufficient. To manage a troubled person-math relationship (Folkman & Lazarus, 1984, p.152), students must adjust academic behaviors (problem-focused coping) but typically must also employ strategies to regulate distress (emotion-focused coping). Students engage in waves of both problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping, and they need our help with both. Elizabeth Minnich (2003) provides a simple but surprisingly effective tool for connecting with the individual frame: when a student deviates from expectation, gives the wrong answer, or otherwise fails, the professor might warmly and with sincere interest ask, “how did you get there?”
As technology increasingly intermediates learning, faculty may need to redouble efforts to be present, immediate, and human. And even the tech itself may need to anticipate, recognize, and address the emotional experience of learners. Plato’s conception of education as “the art of turning around” is timeless – but if modern technology is implemented in ways that cause the turn to be experienced in utter social isolation, the learning may suffer with the learner.
A Set of Competencies
For at least some students, psychology studies may be underspecified, featuring too few factors in a model that is simpler than the one that animates this individual in this moment. No matter, the best educators can augment extant science with the individual frame.
The ABPP competencies upon which certification is based provide specialists with the tools to engage a whole learner. The foundational competency in Relationships (“relate effectively and meaningfully with individuals, groups, and/or communities”) may inform and support the functional competency in Teaching (“providing instruction, disseminating knowledge, and evaluating the acquisition of knowledge and skill in professional psychology”). In some cases, a single accurate statement rising from reflective listening may hasten deep learning.
Of course, students are not the only individuals who need support in the ABPP specialist’s academic work environment. Returning to the cummings paraphrase, “wholly teaching” today may require both upgraded course design and unprecedented emotional labor from professors. More than only modeling the foundational competency of Reflective Practice/Self-Assessment/Self-Care, specialists can advocate for a data-driven culture of pedagogical renewal and mutual care among faculty members. On our most difficult days as educators, we might benefit from being sincerely asked by a colleague, “how did you get there?”
References
cummings, e.e. (1926). Is 5. Boni and Liveright.
Finkelhor, D. (2020). Trends in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the United States. Child Abuse & Neglect, 108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104641
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R.S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: Study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 150-170. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.48.1.150
Minnich, E. K. (2003). Teaching Thinking. Change, 35(5), 18–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091380309604115
Narayan, A. J., Merrick, J. S., Lane, A. S., & Larson, M. D. (2023). A multisystem, dimensional interplay of assets versus adversities: Revised benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) in the context of childhood maltreatment, threat, and deprivation. Development and Psychopathology, 35(5), 2444–2463. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423000536
Sullivan, P.L. (2024). See It, say It, symbolize It: Teaching the big ideas in elementary mathematics. Solution Tree.
Timothy K. Daugherty, PhD, ABPP
Board Certified in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
Correspondence: tdaugherty@missouristate.edu
Patrick Sullivan, PhD
Correspondence: patricksullivan@missouristate.edu