University of South Florida
Scholar Commons
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07. Math Anxiety and the Impact on QMaSC
Services
Gail Hilyard
Holyoke Community College
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Math Anxiety and the Impact on QMaSC
Services
c
Gail Hilyard,
Holyoke Community College
1 Introduction
How can a QMaSC support math anxious students? Math anxiety is a major barrier to student
success in learning mathematics, especially developmental mathematics. In order to provide suf-
ficient services, QMaSC directors must be fully informed about math anxiety, its causes, and the
impact of anxiety on learning.
2 Understanding Math Anxiety
Research demonstrates that learning mathematics is often emotionally charged, evoking strong
feelings of hatred and fear of failure, thereby causing math anxiety. Chinn believes that most math
anxiety is due to a learning disability called dyscalculia [1]. Shields, along with some educators,
believes that teachers need to address the issue of math anxiety as soon as it appears in the
classroom [2]. Because students with math anxiety typically assign blame to teachers for its cause,
educators must analyze the causes of the math anxiety and address the anxiety immediately instead
of letting it fester in the learning environment. The article “Coping with Math Anxiety” discusses
Suggested Citation: Gail Hilyard (2016), “Math Anxiety and the Impact on QMaSC Services”, http://dx.
doi.org/10.5038/9780977674435.ch7 in G. Coulombe, M. O’Neill, M. Schuckers (Eds.) A Handbook for Direc-
tors of Quantitative and Mathematical Support Centers, Neck Quill Press, http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/qmasc_
handbook.
This material is based upon work supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation under Grant DUE-
1255945. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the
author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation
72 Math Anxiety
various definitions of math anxiety, social and educational causes, math myths that lead people to
math anxiety, how to take control over anxiety, and strategies for succeeding at math [3].
Other students will choose or have chosen to avoid taking mathematics courses to protect
their self-worth and to avoid embarrassment in front of others. Jackson and Leffingwell argue
that an investigation of different types of instructors (K through college) and their associated
behaviors verifies that some instructors may create and exacerbate anxiety in students. The authors
determined that math anxiety first occurs in these students in the third grade [4].
Chapter Four of Student Learning and the Learning Environment discusses how mathematics
faculty and their institutions need to create a student-based environment to maximize student
learning in mathematics in and outside of the classroom by enabling students to be partners in the
learning process [5].
Marchewka criticizes the approaches of many researchers and educators who only address ways
to ease the symptoms of math anxiety through humor, coping strategies, and specialized instruction,
but do not examine the main reasons for the math anxiety. He argues that math anxiety is a
bona fide anxiety that needs to be addressed because it causes students difficulties with learning
mathematics [6].
3 How Students Bring Math Anxiety to Developmental
Mathematics
Woodard explains the nature of anxiety for developmental students and suggests ways to allevi-
ate such anxiety [7]. She sees herself as an expert after having taught developmental mathematics
for several years and having witnessed the effect math anxiety can have on developmental math
students. Woodard’s study explores the differences in math anxiety scores based on gender or age,
and if there is a relationship between math anxiety scores and achievement scores. She used the
Mathematical Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) to measure math anxiety levels and to determine the
relationship between the anxiety levels of the students and their achievement scores. Her results
indicate there is no significant difference in math anxiety among traditional (less than 25 years of
age) and non-traditional (over 25 years of age) students.
Likewise, Smith’s study examines the psychological predictors of academic achievement in stu-
dents enrolled in self-paced developmental math courses [8]. Smith used online instruments to
gather data from students in order to measure the psychological predictors such as procrastina-
tion, optimism, self-esteem, anxiety, locus of control, need for achievement, and fear of success.
Smith concludes that an estimated 95 percent of college students have procrastination issues, that
self-esteem and anxiety are related to procrastination, and that a relationship exists between pro-
crastination and age. Both Smith and Woodard found a higher level of anxiety in women than
men.
Gail Hilyard 73
Guevara’s investigation of the Fall 2005 implementation of the Achieving the Dream initiative
at Vista College found no significant differences in achievement between Hispanic female and male
students enrolled in their first developmental math courses [9].
Knowing how math anxiety impacts developmental math students can help the QMaSC direc-
tor/coordinator better design support services and programs to help these students.
4 Resource Literature on Math Anxiety
The QMaSC director may choose to provide a collection of books on math anxiety for students
to borrow. The self-help handbook Math! A Four Letter Word, written by Sembera and Hovis,
gives suggestions for helping to change negative math attitudes and to develop study habits [10].
Researchers Kogelman, Warren and Smith offer students a series of workshops to address negative
attitudes towards math, to debunk math myths, to identify the causes of and strategies for de-
creasing math anxiety, and to suggest approaches for working on certain math problems [11][12].
Mastering Mathematics, by Smith, gives strategies to improve learning and math grades, offers
a diagnostic test that contains numerous suggestions for activities, and includes a section in the
appendix titled, “Study Habits Improvement Check” [12].
Nolting’s Winning at Math focuses on math reform and the future requirements of the American
Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC). The goal of the book is to improve
the nation’s math literacy for all students, especially minority students and those with learning
disabilities. Students can use the book as a study guide to learn math study habits, while instructors
can use the book as a part of any math course or as an independent course [13].
Shelia Tobias, a pioneer in the study of math avoidance, wrote Overcoming Math Anxiety
to convince women and men that their fear of mathematics is the result, and not the cause, of
their negative experiences with mathematics. She encourages readers to give learning mathematics
another chance. Tobias argues that when students are not successful learning mathematics, some
blame themselves for failing instead of looking at the instructor as a cause of the problem [14].
5 Instruments for Assessing Math Anxiety
Many surveys and instruments exist that can be used to identify students with math anxiety.
The Mathematical Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) is commonly used to measure math anxiety levels
and to determine the relationship between the anxiety levels of the students and their achievement
scores. The list below in Table 1 identifies many of the available anxiety instruments categorized
by those instruments that assess anxiety in general and those instruments that specifically assess
math anxiety.
74 Math Anxiety
Table 1: Comparison of Math Anxiety and General Anxiety Instruments
Math Anxiety Instruments General Anxiety Instruments
Dreger and Aiken, 1957 – Math Anxiety
Scale
This is a 3-item scale used to assess emotional
reactions to mathematics.
Beck, 1982 – Situational Anxiety Check-
list (SAC )
The SAC is an experiential measure of the
severity of somatic and cognitive symptoms
of anxiety.
Fennema-Sherman, 1976 – Mathematics
Attitude Scales (MAS)
The MAS is designed to measure attitudes to-
ward the learning of mathematics by women
and men. It consists of nine instruments of
which one measures math anxiety.
Beck, Steer and Brown, 1985 –The Anxiety
Checklist (ACL)
The ACL is designed to assess the severity
of anxiety symptoms in depressed patients.
The 21 items selected reflect somatic, affec-
tive, and cognitive symptoms that were com-
mon to anxiety and not of depression.
Richardson and Suinn, 1972 – Mathemat-
ics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS)
The MARS is 98-item scale designed to as-
sess anxious reactions to using mathematics
in ordinary life and academic situations.
Hamilton, 1959 – Hamilton Rating Scales
for Anxiety (HAM-A)
The HAM-A is one of the first rating scales
developed to measure the severity of anxiety
symptoms. The scale consists of 14 items,
each defined by a series of symptoms, and
measures both cognitive and somatic anxiety.
Suinn and Edwards, 1982 – MARS-A
The MARS-A is the counterpart to MARS,
which is used for adolescents.
Spielberger et al., 1970 – State- Trait Anx-
iety Inventory (STAI)
The inventory measures anxiety and differen-
tiates it from depression.
Taylor, 1953 – Taylor Manifest Anxiety
Scale (TMAS)
The TMAS is designed as a device for select-
ing subjects for inclusion in psychological ex-
periments on stress, motivation, and human
performance. TMAS is used as a general in-
dicator of anxiety as a personality trait, it is
not intended as a specific measure of anxiety
as a clinical entity.
Zung, 1971 – Self-Rating Anxiety Scale
(SRAS )
The scale is designed to measure anxiety and
differentiate from depression.
The appendix includes a sample math anxiety instrument for those QMaSC directors interested
in developing an informal in-house survey to examine a student’s level of math anxiety