Motivated Forgetting in Early Mathematics: A Proof-of-Concept Study

Abstract

Educators assume that students are motivated to retain what they are taught. Yet, students commonly report that they forget most of what they learn, especially in mathematics. In the current study I ask whether students may be motivated to forget mathematics because of academic experiences threaten the self-perceptions they are committed to maintaining. Using a large dataset of 1st and 2nd grade children (N = 812), I hypothesize that math anxiety creates negative experiences in the classroom that threaten children’s positive math self-perceptions, which in turn spurs a motivation to forget mathematics. I argue that this motivation to forget is activated during the winter break, which in turn reduces the extent to which children grow in achievement across the school year. Children were assessed for math self-perceptions, math anxiety and math achievement in the fall before going into winter break. During the spring, children’s math achievement was measured once again. A math achievement growth score was devised from a regression model of fall math achievement predicting spring achievement. Results show that children with higher math self-perceptions showed reduced growth in math achievement across the school year as a function of math anxiety. Children with lower math interest self-perceptions did not show this relationship. Results serve as a proof-of-concept for a scientific account of motivated forgetting within the context of education.

Teacher Math Anxiety Relates to Adolescent Students’ Math Achievement

“…Since ninth-grade math teachers specialize in mathematics, we did not anticipate that teacher math anxiety would be associated with reduced math knowledge or knowledge for teaching mathematics in general. It has been well established that many math anxious adults actually have the necessary math knowledge and strategies to be successful in math, but concerns about failure make it difficult to effectively access and use knowledge during the situations when it matters most (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001; Beilock, 2008; Ramirez, 2017; Ramirez, McDonough, & Jin, 2017). Therefore, rather than focusing on ninth-grade teachers’ math knowledge, we instead ask whether teacher math anxiety might relate to the knowledge that teachers are able to access and use in a classroom.…”

Finding Teaching Inspiration from Gorgias: Mathematics Lessons from a Sophist

“…I argue that it is difficult for students to remember both systems on a daily basis in the mathematics classroom and, referring to Ramirez [11], that they may even be considered to be motivated not to remember both systems but only the one they can run with most after school. It is rare, if not impossible, to find students who have mastery in both systems.…”

“…They are also required to memorize a plethora of terms as well as equations required for success in elementary mathematics. Ramirez [11] believes that elementary students can become so full of "math anxiety" that they choose to forget extraneous material, even if they are still tested for it. He furthermore suggests that "motivated forgetting processes may play a role in the retention of educationally relevant material" (page 8).…”

Mathematical Modeling of Forgetfulness and Memorization of Mathematical Concepts

“…Forgetfulness is a situation where learners experience the loss of what they have learned. This occurs despite the efforts made by students to study (Ramirez, G., 2017). Whilst learning can be controlled, we have little or no control over the process of forgetting (Simon & Bulko, 2014).…”