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Students seeking college degrees in sociology and psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha are required to take a class in mathematical statistics.
在内布拉斯加大学奥马哈分校攻读社会学和心理学学位的学生必须学习数理统计课程。
Statistics is a kind of math that studies numbers that represent pieces of information.
统计学是一种研究代表信息片段的数字的数学。
Many of the students say they feel anxious about the statistics class.
许多学生表示，他们对统计课感到焦虑。
In other words, the class causes them worry and concern.
换句话说，这门课引起了他们的担忧。
Two University of Nebraska professors sought to understand their students’ anxieties, or fears.
内布拉斯加大学的两位教授试图理解他们的学生的焦虑或恐惧。
They hoped to be able to help educators improve their teaching of statistics and lessen students’ worries.
他们希望能够帮助教育工作者改进他们的统计教学，减轻学生的担忧。
Kelly MacArthur teaches statistics in the department of sociology and Jonathan Santo teaches the class in the department of psychology.
凯利·麦克阿瑟在社会学系教统计学，乔纳森·桑托在心理学系教这门课。
They spoke with VOA Learning English about their study and its surprising results.
他们接受了美国之音慢速英语的采访，谈论了他们的研究和令人惊讶的结果。
The two researchers explored several areas of the relationship between statistics anxiety and classroom results.
这两位研究人员在几个方面探讨了统计焦虑和课堂成绩之间的关系。
They looked at how anxiety levels changed from the start of the class to the end.
他们观察了焦虑水平从这门课开始到结束的变化。
They also looked at how those levels related to exam results.
他们还研究了焦虑水平与考试成绩之间的关系。
And, they explored the role that gender plays in statistics anxiety and actual class results.
此外，他们还探讨了性别在统计焦虑和实际课堂成绩中所起的作用。
MacArthur and Santo found that, in general, female students were much more anxious about the class than males were.
麦克阿瑟和桑托发现，总的来说，女生比男生对这门课更焦虑。
Yet, based on their study, women did not need to be as worried as they were.
然而，根据他们的研究，女性不必像她们那样担心。
The researchers found that the female students scored 10 percent higher than male students on the final exam.
研究人员发现，在期末考试中，女生的分数比男生高10%。
Males and females had scored more similarly on exams at the start of the term.
在学期开始时的考试中，男生和女生的成绩很接近。
MacArthur and Santo studied 111 students who answered a series of questions at the beginning and end of the school term.
麦克阿瑟和桑托调查了111名学生，他们在学期开始和结束时回答了一系列问题。
They wanted to see how worried their students were about the class, and then follow their progress over a number of months.
他们想看看他们的学生对这门课有多担心，然后在几个月的时间里跟踪他们的进步。
At the start, the professors said, more men than women answered the questions confidently.
一开始，教授们说，自信地回答问题的男性比女性多。
But by the end, the number of women who were confident about their abilities increased.
但到了最后，对自己能力有信心的女性人数增加了。
Their exam scores rose, too.
她们的考试成绩也有所提高。
Why is this?
这是为什么呢？
Frances Anderson is one of Santo’s former students.
弗朗西斯·安德森是桑托以前的学生之一。
She is working on an advanced degree in educational leadership.
她正在攻读教育领导力的高级学位。
She remembers being fearful of statistics classes even though she had a history of doing well in math classes.
她记得，尽管她在数学课上表现得很好，但她还是很害怕统计学课。
“After the first, I think it was one or two lectures, I felt completely incompetent. I felt like all of the other students knew what was going on, I didn’t know anything.”
“第一节课，我想大概是一两节课后，我觉得自己很无能。我觉得其他所有学生都知道发生了什么，而我什么都不知道。”
Anderson said she thought she would fail the class.
安德森说，她认为她这门课会不及格。
She even called some friends crying, saying “there’s no way that I have the ability to do this.”
她甚至哭着给一些朋友打电话，说：“我根本没有能力做这件事。”
After the concerns at the start, Anderson said she made friends with other students who offered help.
在一开始的担忧之后，安德森说她和其他愿意提供帮助的学生交了朋友。
She also spent one-on-one time with Santo going over the material and followed issues of interest so she could ask “deeper questions” that helped her understand the class better.
桑托还一对一地帮她复习材料，她也在关注自己感兴趣的问题，这样她就可以问一些“更深层次的问题”，帮助她更好地理解这门课。
But the biggest reason she sought extra help?
但她寻求额外帮助的最大原因是什么？
She did not want to be seen as an impostor -- someone who did not belong in the class.
她不想被视为冒名顶替者——一个不属于这个班级的人。
“I think it’s almost like ‘someone’s going to catch you’ and so you’re trying to work to stay ahead of that. So it’s sort of like well, I know if I just stay like one foot ahead, it won’t be possible.”
“我认为这差不多就像‘有人要抓住你’，所以你要努力保持领先。所以这有点儿像，我知道如果我只是领先一英尺，这是不可能的。”
Anderson said her fear of being seen as not good enough made her work very hard.
安德森说，她害怕被大家认为自己不够优秀，这让她非常努力地学习。
MacArthur and Santo wrote about their study in the Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education.
麦克阿瑟和桑托在《统计与数据科学教育杂志》上发表了他们的研究。
They noted that problems with statistics classes can “present a barrier to graduation.”
他们指出，统计学课程的问题可能会“成为毕业的障碍”。
Santo said the level of concern about statistics has always surprised him.
桑托说，学生们对统计学课程的担忧程度一直让他感到惊讶。
He said he often tries to let his students know that math in statistics classes is more “practical,” or useful in everyday life.
他说，他经常试图让他的学生知道，统计课上的数学更“实用”（即在日常生活中更有用）。
But he said it is important for students to accept that they are dealing with math questions that do not have clear answers.
但他表示，重要的是让学生接受他们正在处理的数学问题没有明确的答案。
That is different from other kinds of math problems.
这与其他类型的数学问题不同。
Santo said students are used to doing work that results in a “right” answer.
桑托说，学生们习惯于做能得出“正确”答案的作业。
But in a statistics class for psychology or sociology, they should accept the idea that research data does not always produce clear results.
但在心理学或社会学的统计学课堂上，他们应该接受这样一个观点，即研究数据并不总会产生明确的结果。
Santo also said statistics professors should find ways to make students feel comfortable asking for help.
桑托还表示，统计学教授应该想方设法让学生在寻求帮助时感到自在。
“For these students, if they’re stressed out to the point that they’re avoiding it or avoiding talking to their teachers, or avoiding asking for help, that’s going to have a long-term impact on their grades.”
“对于这些学生来说，如果他们压力过大，以致于他们要逃课或避免与老师交谈，或避免寻求帮助，这将对他们的成绩产生长期影响。”
Anderson said sometimes students set up roadblocks for themselves.
安德森说，有时学生自己会给自己设置障碍。
In this case, she said, the students create a barrier to success by thinking they are not good at math.
在这种情况下，她说，学生认为他们不擅长数学，从而制造了阻碍成功的障碍。
Anderson offered suggestions for people to get past those roadblocks:
安德森为人们克服这些障碍提供了一些建议：
Ask questions and find other people who are facing similar roadblocks.
提出问题，找到其他面临类似障碍的人。
“The only unsuccessful students I’ve ever seen are those that don’t ask questions,” Anderson said.
安德森说：“我见过的唯一不成功的学生是那些不问问题的学生”。
I’m Dan Friedell.
丹·弗里德尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
