ABSTRACT

According to previous findings, math anxiety already occurs at early school age and is negatively correlated with math achievement. So far, however, little is known about the nature of math anxiety in young children. To fill this gap, we present the results of a longitudinal study on the math anxiety of children that were followed in the first year of elementary school. We tested the level of math anxiety and its prevalence. We also investigated the reasons for math anxiety that were reported by the children at the beginning of elementary education. For this purpose, we adopted both individual-difference and developmental perspectives. The results show that first-grade students experienced mild math anxiety that peaked at the beginning of the school year. Most children experienced a low level of math anxiety; some of them were not anxious at all or experienced moderate anxiety, while only a few children were highly math anxious. The reasons for math anxiety that were most frequently reported by the students were associated with risk of failure, task difficulty, time pressure, and fear of receiving a bad grade. We discuss the obtained results in the context of actions aimed at improving the mathematical achievement of students.

摘要

根据之前的研究结果，数学焦虑在学龄早期就已经出现，并且与数学成绩呈负相关。然而，到目前为止，对幼儿数学焦虑的性质知之甚少。为了填补这一空白，我们展示了一项关于小学一年级儿童数学焦虑的纵向研究结果。我们测试了数学焦虑的程度及其流行程度。我们还调查了孩子们在小学教育开始时报告的数学焦虑的原因。为此，我们采用了个体差异和发展观点。结果表明，一年级学生经历了轻微的数学焦虑，这种焦虑在学年开始时达到顶峰。大多数孩子的数学焦虑程度较低；他们中的一些人根本不焦虑或经历中度焦虑，而只有少数孩子高度数学焦虑。学生最常报告的数学焦虑原因与失败风险、任务难度、时间压力和害怕成绩差有关。我们在旨在提高学生数学成绩的行动的背景下讨论获得的结果。