Abstract
This article is a commentary for the special issue on affect and mathematics in young children, written from the perspective of research on affect in mathematics education. The studies in this special issue focus on the individual learners’ affective traits and use primarily surveys as the method. The most common type of affect is emotions, but some studies do examine student beliefs and motivation. The analysis of concept definitions and operationalizations identified some inconsistencies between the different articles, especially with how they operationalize anxiety either as sadness, worry, or fear. The results of the studies provide evidence that young learners’ affect can be reliably measured and that there is a correlation between affect and achievement. This correlation is weaker than for older students and longitudinal data suggests that the causal direction is more likely from achievement to affect.
Highlights
The image of mathematics is that of cold logic and rationality
How and when does mathematics become a source for anxiety or pride? The current special issue is looking at the early years of mathematics learning, from kindergarten to first years of primary education
Research on mathematics-related affect has gradually extended to new theoretical avenues, to new methodological approaches, and to new populations
Summary
The image of mathematics is that of cold logic and rationality. Yet, it invokes a lot of emotions in people. The current special issue is highly relevant for the first and the third reason to study mathematics-related affect. While we know quite well the role that affective elements play in problem solving for older students, our understanding of these cognitiveaffective problem solving processes for the young learners is rather limited In their articles, Pietro Di Martino and Maria Chiara Passolunghi, Elisa Cargnelutti, and Sandra Pellizzoni give us additional insight into this area. The comparative study between young learners from the UK and Chinese Hong Kong by Ann Dowker, Olivia Cheriton, Rachel Horton, and Winifred Mark is an important contribution as it tests the universality of the findings regarding early learners’ mathematics-related affect.
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