Prospective Primary Teachers’ Mathematics Anxiety-Apprehension and Its Causes

Abstract

The study aims to investigate the mathematics anxiety-apprehension of prospective primary school teachers and its causes. The mathematics anxiety-apprehension of the prospective primary school teachers was analyzed using a number of variables. The prospective teachers were asked to provide written answers to open-ended questions about the causes of their mathematics anxiety. The study used mixed method research design. The quantitative data for the prospective teachers' mathematics anxiety-apprehension were collected using the Mathematics Anxiety-Apprehension Scale developed by Ikegulu (1998) and translated into Turkish with validity-reliability analyses by Özdemir and Gür (2011). The qualitative part of the study used the phenomenological method, and the prospective teachers' metaphors for aspects of mathematics were collected as data. The participants in the study were third-and fourth-grade prospective teachers studying in the Primary Education Department of the Necatibey Faculty of Education at Balıkesir University. They were chosen by simple random sampling. The independent samples t-test was computed to analyze the quantitative data, and descriptive statistics were used for the qualitative data. The study found that the mathematics anxiety-apprehension of prospective primary school teachers who were Anatolian high school graduates was significantly lower. Mathematics anxiety-apprehension did not vary by gender, and the third-grade prospective teachers had significantly higher mathematics anxiety-apprehension. The causes of the prospective primary school teachers' mathematics anxiety-apprehension were found to be related to teachers, prospective teachers, the examination system, mathematics program-related and school facilities-related causes. The prospective primary school teachers often used metaphors such as life, crossword puzzle, game and human for each sub-theme, and 166 metaphors for mathematics were identified. The themes with the highest number of metaphors were basic principles of mathematics teaching, basic mathematical skills and mathematical knowledge, respectively.

A Systematic Review Research: ‘Mathematics Anxiety’ in Turkey

“…On the other hand, it is seen that using metaphors (see e.g. Özdemir & Sezginsoy Şeker, 2017) to draw students' anxiety in mathematics could provide interesting insight into the area.…”

“…The level of anxiety in mathematics Baloğlu, 2008;Dede & Dursun, 2008;Birgin, Baloğlu, Çatlıoğlu & Gürbüz, 2010;Pamuk & Karakaş, 2011;Aydın, 2011;Taşdemir, 2015 Mathematics anxiety and its causes Bekdemir, 2007;Alkan, 2010;Alkan, 2011;Özdemir & Sezginsoy Şeker, 2017 Relationship between mathematics anxiety and such demographic variables Peker & Şentürk, 2012;Doruk & Kaplan, 2013;Taşdemir, 2013;Çatlıoğlu, Gürbüz & Birgin, 2014;Uysal & Selışık, 2016 Relationship between mathematics anxiety and attitudes towards mathematics Yenilmez, Girginer & Uzun, 2007;Karadeniz & Karadağ, 2014;Hacıömeroğlu, 2017;Şimşek, Şahinkaya & Aytekin, 2017…”

Examining the Math Anxiety Levels of University Students During Covid-19

“…Some researchers claim that as the grade level rises, math anxiety grows (Arıkan, 2004;Birgin et al, 2010;Dursun & Bindak, 2011). On the contrary, other research indicates that as grade level increases, math anxiety reduces (Aydın et al, 2009;Levere & Kahlon, 2019;Özdemir & Sezginsoy Şeker, 2017). When this result is evaluated in terms of mathematics anxiety, it can be attributed to the fact that many programs in higher education offer basic mathematics lessons to students in the first years and the anxiety is at the level of damped behavior for advanced grade levels (Levere & Kahlon, 2019;Wahid et al, 2014;Yenilmez et al, 2004).…”

“…In other studies, the levels of math anxiety among male and female students did not differ considerably. (Aksu, 2012;Aydın, 2011;Özdemir & Sezginsoy Şeker, 2017;Pamuk & Karakaş, 2011;Taşdemir, 2013;Üldas, 2005).…”