Incorporating Contemplative Practices to Decrease Math Anxiety in Postsecondary Mathematics Courses

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 4:20 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Holistic, Decolonial, and Nonroutine Approaches to Mathematics Education (Table 7)

Abstract

Stress and inequities deeply affect mathematics students (Geist, 2010). As a gatekeeper subject, success in mathematics greatly affects career options and future earning potential (Gutiérrez & Rogoff, 2003), with known barriers to mathematical success including lower socioeconomic status, and students identifying as female or BIPOC (Gutiérrez, 2017; Ruef, 2021). Furthermore, the students affected by these barriers are also more heavily correlated with math anxiety. The hastened shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic further emphasized equity issues, deepening math anxiety for traditionally oppressed students and greatly affecting post-pandemic classrooms. Incorporating contemplative practices in a post-secondary mathematics course empowered the students in this research to achieve greater well-being, to improve their learning and augment their mathematical success.

Authors

• Leslie P. Shayer, Okanagan College

• Karen Ragoonaden, University of British Columbia