Maria Fung: Mathematics meets mindfulness in the classroom

Professor of Mathematics, 2013 Alden Award Winner

Maria Fung, professor of mathematics, adds a new dimension to her classes by using meditation and breathing techniques to subtract anxiety and multiply student engagement. From equations to inner peace, she’s proving that finding the right mindset equals success in numbers.

Fung, who focuses on preparing K-12 teachers, believes teaching should go beyond transmission of information. “Mathematics is one of those disciplines where a lot of students have anxiety and trauma when they come into the classroom,” she said. “So, I try to create an atmosphere where they can relax and feel that it’s safe to be themselves and to express not only their engagement with the material but how they actually feel about the whole learning enterprise.”

Fung uses various methods to calm students’ anxieties, including reflective writing assignments, one-minute meditations, breath work, body scans, and brain dump writing exercises where, at the beginning of class, students pour out on a page whatever is on their minds at the moment. She believes addressing students’ mental health issues is important to create a better relationship with mathematics and promote a conducive learning environment.

“If I really want students to learn more mathematics, I have to meet them where they’re at,” she said. “These techniques help them get in a good mindset and create a positive energy in the classroom.”

Fung also believes that how students are taught, in turn, impacts how they will teach in their own classrooms, so she tries to be a role model for student engagement.  

“When I was in graduate school, I had this professor who was, for lack of a better word, very unengaging,” she said. “So, I would spend the entire class trying to understand what he was trying to convey. He was super monotone and super in his own world, not making any connection with students. In a way, he was one of my best teachers because I figured out at that moment that I would never do that to students. I would teach students first and mathematics second.”