Abstract
Whereas some evidence exists that math anxiety may interfere with math performance from the very beginning of primary school, no study to date has attempted to investigate whether math anxiety may also interfere with early math learning (i.e., the encoding of new math knowledge) and not only with recalling already mastered contents in test situations. Across 2 experiments carried out in 2 different countries (Study 1: N = 115, conducted in Italy; Study 2: N = 120, conducted in the United Kingdom), we addressed this question by presenting 6-year-old children with 2 math contents that had not been covered by their school curriculum before the study. Children were tested immediately before and immediately after the learning phase, and after a 1-week delay. Longitudinal models revealed that math anxiety was negatively related to initial level of knowledge in the case of 3 out of 4 math contents. More importantly, math anxiety was also negatively related to rate of learning in 2 out of 4 tasks (1 task in Study 1 and 1 in Study 2). These studies provide the first evidence that math anxiety may reduce the encoding of novel math contents in memory in very young children, potentially leading to cumulative gaps in math proficiency for children with math anxiety from the very beginning of their formal education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Highlights
Whereas some evidence exists that math anxiety may interfere with math performance from the very beginning of primary school, no study to date has attempted to investigate whether math anxiety may interfere with early math learning, and with recalling already mastered contents in test situations
Across two experiments carried out in two different countries and school systems (Italy and the UK), we presented each participant with two math contents that had not been covered by their school curriculum before the study, and we found that math anxiety reduced the rate of learning in 2 out of the 4 tasks
Math-anxious children’s performance showed less improvement between the baseline and immediate post-test, and this effect was still present at the delayed post-test. These results show that math anxiety might interfere with the learning of novel math contents in the case of young children
Summary
G (i.e., with the encoding of new math knowledge) in young schoolchildren. In two experiments, we addressed this issue by investigating 6-year-old children’s learning of novel math contents that had not been part of their school curriculum up to the time of the study. We estimated a bivariate autoregressive model in which we included children’s accuracy scores on both math tasks (i.e., additions with tens and order invariance of addends) at baseline, immediate post-test, and at the delayed post-test phase, as well as their math anxiety score.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
