Date of Award
Spring 5-11-2021
Document Type
Project (696 or 796 registration)
Degree Name
Master of Science in Curriculum & Instruction
Department
Graduate Studies
Committee Chair
Ximena Suarez-Sousa
Keywords
Mathematical Anxiety, COVID, Pandemic, Hybrid, Distance Learning
Abstract
Mathematical anxiety is the stress associated with an insecurity in a student’s own ability to solve a math problem (Beilock & Willingham, 2014). This stress can cause students to perform below their ability and put in motion a dislike for math that can last a lifetime. In the spring of 2020, a sudden interruption in learning, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, caused students to be separated from their teachers, setting up a situation in which students were not as fully supported as usual, and mathematical anxiety potentially increased. The previous research on students being separated from their teachers on a large scale is nonexistent; so to inform this research, studies of post-Hurricane Katrina were used. This study attempts to determine how distance learning, and the subsequent learning models that followed, affected students’ mathematical anxiety, and if there was anything that helped students cope with their anxiety. This study was conducted with mostly ninth-grade geometry students, who were surveyed about their mathematical anxiety levels pre-, during, and post-pandemic. The students also provided feedback on two specific strategies of self-assessment and self-regulated learning that the teacher had implemented during the following school year; the students also identified what alleviated or heightened their mathematical anxiety. These results provide us with a deeper understanding of how the pandemic affected students and inform us how we can better meet their needs in times of crises when the traditional learning model is disrupted.
Recommended Citation
Christiansen, Ryan, "How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected High School Student Mathematical Anxiety During Distance Learning." (2021). Dissertations, Theses, and Projects. 542.
https://red.mnstate.edu/thesis/542