A Study Of Mathematics Anxiety in Pre-Service Teachers

The study investigated the changes in levels of mathematics anxiety among pre-service teachers in six different sections of a mathematics method courses for early childhood/elementary education pre-service teachers. The changes were a function of using Bruner’s framework of developing conceptual knowledge before procedural knowledge and using manipulatives and other activities to make mathematics concepts more concrete and meaningful. Data were collected using quantitative and qualitative measures. Two hundred forty-six pre-service teachers completed a 98-item Likert-type survey. Informal discussions, informal interviews, and questionnaire-guided narrative interviews were conducted with pre-service teachers. Data revealed a statistically significant reduction in mathematics anxiety in pre-service teachers (p < .001) who completed a mathematics methods course that emphasized Bruner’s model of concept development. Results of the study have implications for teacher education programs concerning how future teachers are trained, the measurement of mathematics anxiety levels among pre-service teachers, and the determination of specific contexts in which mathematics anxiety can be interpreted and reduced.     

The Contributors' Column

This project investigated the effects of a standards-based mathematics methods course on the mathematics anxiety levels of preservice teachers. The qualitative portion of the study examined aspects of a math methods course that affected mathematics anxiety levels and the antecedents of mathematics anxiety. Findings revealed a significant difference (p.05) between pretest and posttest mathematics anxiety levels, indicating a decrease in mathematics anxiety from the onset of the mathematics methods course.     

Mathematics anxiety and mathematics teacher efficacy in elementary pre‐service teachers

This study investigated the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics teacher efficacy among 156 elementary pre‐service teachers from a university in the southeastern United States. Data sources included the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS), Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument, and pre‐service teacher interviews. Findings revealed a significant, negative relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics teachers’ efficacy (r = ?.475, p<.05). Specifically, the pre‐service teachers with the lowest degree of mathematics anxiety had the highest levels of mathematics teacher efficacy. Interviews with pre‐service teachers indicated that their mathematics anxiety is associated with efficaciousness toward mathematics teaching practices and is the basis for their mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs.     

Prospective elementary teachers’ knowledge of fraction division

Prospective elementary teachers must understand fraction division deeply in order to meaningfully teach this topic to their future students. This paper explores the nature of the subject content knowledge of fraction division possessed by a group of Taiwanese prospective elementary teachers at the beginning of their mathematics methods course. The findings provide preliminary evidence that many prospective Taiwanese elementary teachers have developed the knowledge package of fraction division as described by Ma (Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics: Teachers?? understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the United States. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, 1999). The nature of various strategies used by these teachers provides further illustration of a secure common content knowledge that can serve as a benchmark for the development of mathematics courses for prospective teachers. However, the findings also show that the tasks of representing fraction division, through either word problems or pictorial diagrams, are challenging even for those highly proficient in elementary and middle school mathematics. The broader implications of this research for the international community are discussed, and recommendations for elementary teacher education programs are presented.     

Mathematics-related anxiety and attitudes: examining the impact among Latina preservice teachers

The purpose of this study was to investigate mathematics-related anxiety and attitudes among Latina preservice teachers. Three sections from the Inventory of Mathematics Attitudes, Experience, and Self Awareness were administered to preservice teachers enrolled in a curriculum and instruction mathematics course during the 1st semester of a 2-semester credential program. Pre- and postsurvey data were examined among female students. There were significant differences on 5 statements that suggest positive perceptions about mathematics and 5 statements that suggest negative perceptions about mathematics. We discuss strategies to reduce mathematics anxiety and address attitudes in preservice teachers.     

Teaching anxieties revealed: pre-service elementary teachers’ reflections on their mathematics teaching experiences

Over the last 50?years, there has been ample research dedicated to mathematics anxiety in contexts of teaching and learning. However, there has been less attention focused on pre-service teachers’ anxieties about teaching mathematics in classroom settings. This study analyzed pre-service teachers’ reflections at the conclusion of an elementary mathematics field experience in order to determine common themes surrounding anxiety-related events based on mathematics practice-teaching experiences. Through qualitative analysis of pre-service teachers’ reflections using open and axial coding, three categories and ten themes surrounding elementary pre-service teachers’ anxiety-related events based on mathematics practice-teaching experiences emerged. Some of the themes presented were ones that increased pre-service teachers’ anxieties for teaching mathematics, whereas other themes reflected aspects of the field experience that decreased anxiety for teaching mathematics. Based on the themes revealed in this study, suggestions for strategies and materials that could be developed for university mathematics methods courses are discussed. Novel perspectives for considering mathematics teaching anxiety, such as locus of control and future time perspective, are shared.     

How Does Ongoing Task-Focused Mathematics Professional Development Influence Elementary School Teachers’ Knowledge, Beliefs and Enacted Pedagogies?

This study examined how a task-focused, year-long mathematics professional development program influenced elementary school teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices. Participants completed 84 h of professional development over 13 months that were focused on exploring, modifying and implementing cognitively-demanding mathematical tasks. Using a multi-methods approach, teacher-participants completed pre- and post-measures of mathematical knowledge for teaching, teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics, and teachers’ self-reports of enacted instructional practices. Further, three teacher-participants were randomly selected to be observed 3 times over the course of the school year. Data analyses indicated that the professional development had a statistically significant positive impact on participants’ mathematical knowledge for teaching, use of student-centered instructional practices, and beliefs towards mathematics as a subject area. Further, the observed teachers enacted some high-level mathematical tasks and questions, but these were more visible at the end of the study compared to the beginning of the study. Implications for future work are also shared.     

A CASE STUDY OF ELEMENTARY BEGINNING MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ EFFICACY DEVELOPMENT

The main purpose of this research was to explore the developmental process of and possible changes in beginning elementary mathematics teachers’ efficacy. Beginning teachers with and without mathematics and science backgrounds were also compared to explore differences in their efficacy development. A multiple-case study method with a process and recursive design was employed in this study. The participants were six beginning elementary mathematics teachers purposefully selected from Taichung, Taiwan. Data were collected through interviews, recordings, observations, and reflection notes and then analyzed by immersion and editing analytic techniques. Based on the data analysis, a five-gradation developmental model and its characteristics of elementary beginning mathematics teacher efficacy was developed and proposed. The findings demonstrated the developmental process of this five-gradation model and its continuity and cyclical nature. Moreover, beginning mathematics teachers, who were at the same efficacy levels, tended to exhibit substantial similarities but slight differences in their developmental processes. This study also verified that the construct of internal and external factors played a significant role in cyclically contributing to continuous efficacy development. The implications of beginning mathematics teachers’ efficacy and their professional development that derived from the findings and discussions were proposed, as well as a recommendation for further exploration on their efficacy development.     

中学教师焦虑情绪、心理压力和应对方式的比较研究

目的探究中学教师在焦虑情绪、心理压力、应对方式三方面的差异,以指导教师进行有效的情绪管理和压力应对。方法采用Zung焦虑自评量表、心理压力问卷、简易应对方式问卷对716名中学教师进行了问卷调查。结果（1）不同教龄的中学教师,市、县、乡中学教师在焦虑情绪、心理压力、积极应对或消极应对几个方面差异显著（P〈0．05）。（2）普通班与重点班的教师之间在焦虑情绪、心理压力上差异显著（P〈0．01）。结论教龄较长的中学教师,市、乡中学教师以及各中学重点班的教师焦虑情绪和心理压力较重;普通中学、城市中学的教师更多地采用消极应对模式。     

The Development of Diploma in Education Student Teachers’ Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) of teachers cannot be easily defined but is a complex concept integrating generic pedagogical knowledge, mathematics teaching methodology as well as knowledge of the discipline of mathematics. It is the objective of mathematics methodology courses in teacher preparation programmes to begin the development of MPCK in their pre-service teachers. As part of a research study on the development of MPCK in primary school beginning teachers, a 16-item instrument was developed to measure some aspects of the MPCK for teaching mathematics at primary level. The instrument was administered to the 2003 Intake of the Diploma in Education student teachers at the National Institute of Education, Singapore just at the beginning of their programme. As they completed their methodology course in February 2005, the instrument was administered again. This paper will discuss the findings concerning their performance in these two tests, with reference to the overall performance as well as topic-specific and MPCK construct-specific performance. The findings indicate that student teachers at the beginning of their programmes are generally quite weak in their mathematics pedagogical content knowledge, as might be expected. There was significant improvement in some aspects of their MPCK on completion of their mathematics pedagogy course.     

Lecture attendance is a pivotal factor for improving prospective teachers’ academic performance in Teaching and Learning Mathematics

The value and importance of lectures in higher education is part of a modern education discourse worldwide. This study aims to estimate the importance of lectures for prospective teachers of kindergarten, preschool and early primary school. We analysed academic achievements of prospective teachers who had either mandatorily or voluntarily attended lectures in the subject of teaching and learning mathematics. Students’ examination grades in a maths course with mandatory or voluntary lecture attendance were analysed with a logistic model testing the association between lecture attendance requirement and grades. We show that mandatory lecture attendance (1) more than double the odds of students receiving a pass grade when their situated and tacit knowledge was examined and (2) quadrupled the odds of students achieving the highest grade (pass with distinction) when both their understanding of elementary mathematics and their situated and tacit knowledge of teaching and learning mathematics were examined. Our study provides evidence for a significant positive role of lecture attendance for students acquiring skills in Teaching and Learning Mathematics. While attending lectures students receive situated tacit knowledge of the subject which is otherwise difficult, if not impossible, for them to obtain in a different way. The observed improvement may have an additional positive effect in being a step towards overcoming a maths anxiety, which is otherwise relatively common among prospective teachers.     

Exploring early childhood preservice teachers’ mathematics anxiety and mathematics efficacy beliefs

Early childhood preservice teachers participated in a qualitative multiple case study to explore and examine the effectiveness of reform-based constructivist methods used in a mathematics methods course to change their mathematics anxiety, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Findings indicated that instructor’s use of a variety of reform-based strategies to teach and model concepts were effective in reducing their mathematics anxiety and improving their mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs. Based on these findings, it is recommended that mathematics methods course instructors use reform-based constructivist methods in their courses as outlined by the NCTM’s (2014) principles. Teacher educators must also consider carefully their attitudes and disposition toward mathematics along with the type of classroom and learning environment they establish in mathematics methods courses. They must emphasize conceptual understanding during mathematics methods courses, understand the connection between preservice teachers’ mathematics anxiety and mathematics efficacy beliefs, and integrate field experiences as well as peer teaching opportunities into mathematics methods courses.     

A longitudinal study of effects of a developmental teacher preparation program on elementary prospective teachers’ mathematics beliefs

The universal emphasis in mathematics education on teaching and learning for understanding can require substantial paradigmatic shifts for many elementary school teachers. Consequently, a pressing goal of teacher preparation programs should be the facilitation of these changes during program experiences. This longitudinal, mixed methods study presents a thorough investigation of the effects of a distinctive teacher preparation program on important constructs related to prospective teacher preparedness to teach mathematics for understanding, including mathematics pedagogical and teaching efficacy beliefs, mathematics anxiety, and specialized content knowledge for teaching mathematics. The results indicate that the programmatic features experienced by the prospective teachers in this study, including a developmental two-course mathematics methods sequence and coordinated developmental field placements, provided a context supporting teacher change. These shifts are interpreted through the nature and timing of the experiences in the program and a model of teacher change processes. The findings provide insights for mathematics educators as to the outcomes of these programmatic features.     

Prior mathematics achievement,cognitive appraisals and anxiety as predictors of Finnish students’ later mathematics performance and career orientation

The aim of this two‐year longitudinal study was to investigate the role and impact of prior mathematics performance, cognitive appraisals and mathematics‐specific, affective anxiety in determining later mathematics achievement and future career orientation among Finnish adolescents. The basic ideas of the control‐value theory, assumed to be culturally universal, and previous controversial results regarding the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement were tested in the Finnish cultural context with a longitudinal design. The key premise of the control‐value theory is that control and value appraisals are significant determinants of both activity and outcome achievement emotions. Our results suggest that mathematics anxiety, a prospective outcome emotion, is determined by outcome expectancies (success or failure) and outcome value (the importance of performing well). They also suggest that anxiety as a negative affective emotion is a problem not only for those who perform poorly but probably also for certain pupils across all achievement levels. Compared with the performance level and with the boys, the girls exhibited inaccurately low outcome expectancies in mathematics. These low expectancies connected to the negative value of failure are a potential cause for their higher anxiety level. The educational implications of the findings are discussed.     

Upper primary school teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching functional thinking in algebra

This article is based on a project that investigated teachers’ knowledge in teaching an important aspect of algebra in the middle years of schooling—functions, relations and joint variation. As part of the project, 105 upper primary teachers were surveyed during their participation in Contemporary Teaching and Learning of Mathematics, a research project funded by the Catholic Education Office, Melbourne (2008–2012). Analysis of the survey responses revealed that two-thirds of teachers demonstrated content knowledge on a pattern generalisation task appropriate for upper primary levels of schooling (8- to 12-year-old students), but less than half demonstrated reasonable pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). On a paired variable (function machine) task, only one quarter of teachers demonstrated appropriate PCK. Although two-thirds of the teachers indicated that they currently taught content from the “Patterns and Algebra” strand of the new Australian Curriculum, less than half were able to provide examples of appropriate learning experiences for students. More than two-thirds of teachers expressed concern about their ability to teach this area of mathematics. Implications for the professional learning of teachers to improve their mathematics knowledge for developing students’ functional thinking are presented.     

The effect of teacher education programs on future elementary mathematics teachers’ knowledge: a five-country analysis using TEDS-M data

This article addresses the problem of how opportunities to learn in teacher education programs influence future elementary mathematics teachers’ knowledge. This study used data collected for the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M). TEDS-M measured the mathematics content knowledge (MCK) and the mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) of future teachers in their final year in teacher preparation programs. The purpose of this study is to explore whether elementary teaching candidates’ MCK and MPCK are associated with their opportunities to learn in mathematics courses and mathematics methods courses in five countries. The results showed that opportunities to learn in some teacher preparation components are more important than in other components.     

The Role of Content Knowledge and Problem Features on Preservice Teachers’ Appraisal of Elementary Mathematics Tasks

The objective of this study was to examine the nature of preservice teachers’ evaluations of elementary mathematics problems using the Mathematical Tasks Framework (MTF), a model designed to discriminate among tasks according to their cognitive complexity. We also tested the relationship between mathematics content knowledge and problem length on the preservice teachers’ evaluations. Twenty-six undergraduate students enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course at a large urban university were introduced to the MTF and cognitive complexity during a class lecture and were subsequently required to sort 32 mathematics problems according to the framework. Results demonstrated that overall, the preservice teachers had more difficulty accurately classifying problems considered to represent high levels of cognitive complexity compared to problems that were less complex. Those with strong mathematics content knowledge, as measured by a standardized test, were able to sort the problems more accurately than those with weaker content knowledge. Two open-ended items assessing content knowledge were not related to sorting performance. Finally, the preservice teachers were influenced by the surface characteristic of task length; the data indicated that the teachers tended to label short problems as less cognitively demanding and long problems as more so. Implications for preservice professional development include an increased emphasis on mathematics content knowledge as well as expert modeling of the identification of deep conceptual principles at the heart of the mathematics curriculum.     

On Culture and Mathematics Teacher Education

Many countries are multicultural. Mathematics teacher education classes often are composed of students with varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and mathematics teachers may be employed in regions from which they do not come. Formal (mathematics) education is a process of cultural interaction, and every child and teacher may experience some degree of social and cultural conflict in that process. This paper describes and reflects on some of these tensions, as they exist in mathematics teacher education in Mozambique. The process of developing among future mathematics teachers an awareness of the social and cultural bases of mathematics is object of reflection.     

Relationship between perceived and observed student-centred learning environments in Qatari elementary mathematics and science classrooms

Recently, Qatar established educational reform in charter (independent) schools focusing on curriculum standards, student-centred teaching, standards-based assessment, English as the language of instruction, and extensive professional development. A primary area of emphasis was the creation of student-centred mathematics and science classrooms characterised by inquiry and active student participation. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in the learning environments of Qatari mathematics and science classrooms at two levels: in higher- and lower-performing Qatari schools implementing the recent Education for a New Era reform elements; and in classes of teachers who experienced professional development focused on student-centred teaching strategies and those who did not. Participants included teachers and students in 47 grade 3 and 4 mathematics and science classrooms. Classroom observations were conducted and student learning environment surveys were administered at the beginning and end of the semester. Results indicated low levels of student-centred instruction, despite significant improvement over time. Few differences by level of school performance or professional development participation existed. However, Personalisation emerged as a key learning environment variable related to teachers’ implementation of student-centred instruction.     

Rate your course! Student teachers’ perceptions of a primary pre-service mathematics education programme

Although research suggests that many pre-service mathematics education programmes are weak interventions having a negligible effect on student teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, there is consensus that programmes that model and engage student teachers in reform teaching and learning approaches have the potential to effect positive change in attitudes and knowledge of mathematics. This paper focuses on the perceptions of 345 student teachers regarding their mathematics education programme. The authors consider that in order to further our understanding of the characteristics of an effective pre-service mathematics education programme, the opinions of participating student teachers are fundamental. Participants reported improved mathematical subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in addition to greater confidence and decreased anxiety towards mathematics. Programme features such as small group tutorials and interactive engagement were identified as impacting this positive change.