Mathematics Anxiety in Pre-Service Elementary Teachers and its Impact on their Teaching
Anxiety in pre-service elementary teachers (PSETs) often affects their views of mathematics as well as the practices and teaching methods they choose to use. Due to this, many PSETs often choose to use traditional teaching methods in the classroom which can have counteractive effects on their math anxiety (Harper & Daane, 1998; Olson & Stoehr, 2019; Tooke & Lindstrom, 1998). The goal of this paper is to better comprehend and discover the ways in which math anxiety in PSETs impacts their teaching and whether there are ways to limit these negative emotions about mathematics. Much of the research on this topic look at either PSETs’ beliefs/views or their teaching practices. The focus of this paper will be to analyze the relationship between their beliefs/views and their teaching such to look at how one influences the other or if they have a symbiotic relationship as well as looking at how one’s individual psychology influences these beliefs/views. Using a symbolic interactionist lens, the arguments provide evidence from the literature that looks at the relationships between people and others. Moreover, in touching upon these relationships, this paper also delves into gender issues and stereotypes that have influenced these relationships. The implications of this paper deal primarily with the impact of gender stereotypes on teaching and anxiety as well as what teaching practices are most favourable when looking at reducing anxiety levels in PSETs.