ABSTRACT
This study explores effects of teaching experience and specialized mathematics education on mathematics anxiety and mathematics teaching anxiety. Fifty-nine female pre-service and in-service mathematics primary school teachers with varied specialized mathematics education and teaching experience responded to a questionnaire measuring mathematics anxiety and mathematics teaching anxiety. The results illustrate that specialized mathematics education affects in-service primary school teachers’ mathematics anxiety, and that teaching experience is associated with mathematics teaching anxiety. Moreover, mathematics anxiety of some in-service primary teachers without specialization does not fade with time. The discussion highlights the importance of identifying mathematics anxiety in primary school teachers with no specialized mathematics education, aiming to lower it. The small sample and participants’ background limit the power of the findings. This study recommends conducting further studies according to the suggested mathematics anxiety cognitive-behavioral model; addressing cultural differences, teachers with and without specialized mathematics education, and comparing middle and secondary teachers.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Dorit Patkin
Dorit Patkin is a full professor with a PhD in mathematical education. Dorit was the head of the mathematics department for eight years at the Kibbutzim College of Education, Art and Technology, and the coordinator at the Israeli educational television channel as well as the scientific consultant in this area. Now she is the head of the MEd and MTeach programs in Mathematics Education. Dorit has published more than a hundred articles and 13 books. Her research interests are in math teaching and education, exploring students’ mistakes and misconceptions in math, and professional development of math teachers.
Yoram Greenstein
Yoram Greenstein is a lecturer with a PhD in neuropsychology. He teaches developmental and educational psychology at the Kibbutzim College of Education, Art and Technology, and Zefat Academic College. His research interests include the inter-relationship among anxiety, self-concept, motivation, gender, culture and achievement, as well as developmental disabilities and the integration of neuroscience into education.