Preservice Science and Mathematics Teachers’ Mathematics Anxiety and Beliefs about the Nature of Mathematics:

Abstract

This study aims to examine preservice science and mathematics teachers’ mathematics anxiety and beliefs about the nature of mathematics, as well as to reveal whether they differ according to the department. Moreover, this study investigates whether there is a relationship between beliefs about the nature of mathematics and mathematics anxiety. The participants of the study were 213 junior and senior preservice elementary science and mathematics teachers. Data collection tools were Philosophical Thoughts about the Nature of Mathematics Scale (PTNM) and Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS). Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze mathematics anxiety and beliefs scores of preservice elementary teachers. The study revealed that most of the preservice teachers’ scores on beliefs about the nature of mathematics high and their mathematics anxiety scores were low. The results indicated that there were significant differences in both belief scores and mathematics anxiety scores in favor of preservice mathematics teachers. In addition, there was a high negative correlation between pre-service teachers’ PTNM and MAS scores.