CAREER: Getting to the bottom of mathematics anxiety: A longitudinal investigation into its developmental operating mechanisms

本研究将探讨数学焦虑对数学能力发展的影响。数学焦虑描述了在数学相关活动之前或期间所经历的恐惧和忧虑的感觉。这是学生群体中非常普遍的情绪。与数学焦虑程度较低的学生相比，高度数学焦虑的学生表现出较低的数学成绩，对数学相关的职业道路也不太感兴趣。为了更准确地理解数学焦虑为何以及如何阻碍数学能力的发展，本项目将(1)调查数学焦虑对数学问题解决的实时影响；(2)考察数学焦虑对学校内外数学学习投入的长期影响；(3)探讨可能减轻数学焦虑对数学学习结果负面影响的个体特征。该项目由德克萨斯理工大学的EHR核心研究（ECR）项目提供CAREER奖支持，该项目支持推进STEM学习基础研究文献的工作。该项目的总体目标是进一步科学地理解数学焦虑与数学成绩之间负相关的机制。最终，这些知识将为提高数学教育中情感体验和知识获取的质量提供机会。该项目将整合认知情感科学、教育科学、心理生理学和发展心理学的方法论方法，进行为期三年的纵向设计，跟踪学生从小学高年级到初中。首先，本项目将测试数学焦虑通过破坏成功解决数学问题所需的目标驱动注意力来损害数学成绩的假设。研究人员将对不同程度数学焦虑的学生在解决数学问题时的持续注意力分布模式（通过眼球运动来测量）进行研究。其次，研究了数学焦虑与数学成就之间的纵向关系，假设数学学习中的回避和脱离在课堂、家庭和校外数学活动等多种情境中调解了这种发展关系。第三，研究人员将结合心电图、阻抗心电图和问卷调查方法，探索状态和特质情绪调节和努力动员作为数学焦虑与数学学习结果分离的可能机制。通过寻找传播、教育和外展项目，该项目将提供机会促进公众对数学学习的理解，并教育家长和教师成为学习科学的更好消费者。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will examine the role that mathematics anxiety plays in impeding the development of mathematical competency. Mathematics anxiety describes the feeling of fear and apprehension experienced prior to or during math related activities. It is a highly prevalent emotion in the student population. Highly math anxious students, compared to their low math anxiety counterparts, exhibit lower math achievement and less interest in math-related career paths. To understand more precisely why and how mathematics anxiety may hinder the development of mathematics ability, this project will (1) investigate the real-time impacts of mathematics anxiety on math problem solving; (2) examine the long-term impacts of mathematics anxiety on engagement in math learning in and out of school; and (3) explore possible individual characteristics that may mitigate the negative implications of mathematics anxiety on math learning outcomes. The project is supported by a CAREER award to Texas Tech University by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning.The overarching goal of this project is to further our scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying the negative association between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement. Ultimately, this knowledge will provide opportunities to improve the quality of emotional experiences and knowledge acquisition in math education. This project will integrate methodological approaches from cognitive-affective sciences, educational sciences, psychophysiology, and developmental psychology into a 3-year longitudinal design, following students from upper elementary school into middle school. First, this project will test the hypothesis that mathematics anxiety impairs math performance by undermining goal-driven attention needed for successful math problem solving. The researchers will examine continuous attention distribution patterns (measured by eye movement) during math problem solving in students with varying levels of mathematics anxiety. Second, the researchers will examine the longitudinal relation between mathematics anxiety and mathematics attainment, with the hypothesis that avoidance and disengagement in math learning mediate this developmental relation in multiple contexts, in class, at home, and in out of school math activities. Third, researchers will incorporate electrocardiography, impedance cardiography, and questionnaire measures to explore state and trait emotion regulation and effort mobilization as possible mechanisms in uncoupling undesired math learning outcomes from mathematics anxiety. Through finding dissemination as well as education and outreach programs, this project will offer the opportunity to promote public understanding of mathematics learning in particular, and to educate parents and teachers to become better consumers of the science of learning in general.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.