Hongmei Liu and Nordia Thomas : Investigation on math anxiety among high school students

Posted by , part of the Statistics and Data Science Seminar.

At

May 2, 2007, 3:15 p.m.

In

SEO 712

Abstract

The objective of our project was to evaluate the prevalence of math anxiety for two periods (A and B) of Algebra I students, and to identify if alternative pedagogical strategies help to alleviate math anxiety. From an initial Math Anxiety Scale (MAS) survey we concluded that students did exhibit math anxiety, with most displaying medium to medium-high levels of math anxiety. We conducted a logistic regression of the difference of scores between the Math Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) survey given before and after a class, and the students' initial math anxiety rating. Using the results of the logistic regression we concluded that the hands-on teaching approach used in Period A helped to alleviate the students' math anxiety more than the traditional lecture approach employed in Period B.