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The math anxiety project at higher education: a case study from Portugal

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Resumo:The area of Mathematics, often seen as difficult and stressful, is one of the scientific areas with the highest failure rates in Higher Education, thus leading to different levels of anxiety. The purpose of the Math Anxiety project is to understand how mathematical anxiety and negative attitudes toward mathematics affect students’ performance. The research made use of internationally validated protocols (sMars and STAI) that were applied to Higher Education students from different institutions in Portugal. The findings of this study show that mathematical anxiety and negative attitudes toward mathematics do not always affect the performance of students. By providing an instrument for measuring math anxiety and identifying students that may have a low math achievement because of anxiety, the present study provides relevant insights regarding mathematical anxiety that may be useful for educators and psychologists.
Autores principais:Santos, Vanda
Outros Autores:Pereira, Anabela; Neto, Teresa; Pinheiro, Margarida M.
Assunto:Anxiety Higher education Mathematics
Ano:2021
País:Portugal
Tipo de documento:artigo
Tipo de acesso:acesso aberto
Instituição associada:Universidade de Aveiro
Idioma:inglês
Origem:RIA - Repositório Institucional da Universidade de Aveiro
Descrição
Resumo:The area of Mathematics, often seen as difficult and stressful, is one of the scientific areas with the highest failure rates in Higher Education, thus leading to different levels of anxiety. The purpose of the Math Anxiety project is to understand how mathematical anxiety and negative attitudes toward mathematics affect students’ performance. The research made use of internationally validated protocols (sMars and STAI) that were applied to Higher Education students from different institutions in Portugal. The findings of this study show that mathematical anxiety and negative attitudes toward mathematics do not always affect the performance of students. By providing an instrument for measuring math anxiety and identifying students that may have a low math achievement because of anxiety, the present study provides relevant insights regarding mathematical anxiety that may be useful for educators and psychologists.