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Exploring Interventions for Math Anxiety in High School Math Classrooms

Thu, April 11, 2:30 to 4:00pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Floor: Level 3, Room 305

Abstract

Framework and Objective Math anxiety refers to heightened negative emotion associated with mathematics, which is also related to deficits in math performance (Ashcraft, 2002). Math anxiety is thought to detract from math performance through two explanations (Ramirez et al., 2018): 1) The Disruption Account posits that math anxiety has a negative impact on working memory (Ashcraft & Krause, 2007), detracting from resources needed to complete math calculations; 2) The Reduced Competency Account hypothesizes that math anxiety is the result of poor understanding which compounds through avoidance over time. Math anxiety is a challenge for STEM achievement (Beilock & Maloney, 2015), and the present work introduced two interventions designed to target these explanations, thereby reducing anxiety and improving math outcomes.
We tested an Emotion Regulation (ER) intervention designed to reduce the negative impact of emotion on performance through cognitive reappraisal (Disruption Account), and a Study Skills (SS) intervention designed to bolster study strategies and approach math more often through self-testing (Reduced Competency Account). Participants were recruited from two high schools (N = 224) through participation in Algebra courses. All study procedures were approved by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at Dartmouth College and the school administration. During the second semester, students were pseudo-randomly assigned to receive the ER or SS intervention. Each intervention was designed to be completed in a 20-minute semi-structured discussion with a small group of students, with continued reminders to use the assigned ER or SS strategy before math tests.
Before the intervention, both SS and ER groups showed negative associations between math anxiety and math class performance, F(1, 192) = 55.69, p < .001. In second semester, we observed a significant interaction between grades and intervention group, 𝝌2(1) = 6.73, p = .01. The SS intervention was associated with increased grade performance for more highly math anxious students during the intervention period, and the ER intervention was less effective at reversing anxiety-related decrements in math grades. For students highest in math anxiety, the SS group had grades that were approximately half a grade higher than students in the ER group. The effects of the SS intervention extended throughout second semester, suggesting that this brief intervention encouraged better study strategies and more frequent engagement with math.
The results of this study suggest that for highly math anxious students, providing an intervention that bolstered study skills resulted in increased grade performance compared to those assigned to an emotion regulation intervention. These results suggest that when students take an active role in implementing changes in their study techniques – gaining practice in completing math problems and potentially habituating to the effects of anxiety – we see a resulting increase in math grades and a reduction in the effects of anxiety on performance. Improving study skills may have encouraged students to reduce their avoidance by approaching math more often and building essential math skills. For highly math anxious students, these results show that providing additional study support can ameliorate the detrimental effects of anxiety in real-world classroom environments.

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