CAREER: The Impact of Time-Pressure on Math Anxiety and Math Learning

美国成年人和儿童的算术和数学技能通常与可比国家的人相比排名较低。数学教育的进步可以通过识别和消除阻碍数学参与和学习的因素来促进。其中一个因素是对数学的焦虑。数学焦虑预示着对数学的回避和数学成绩不佳，并不成比例地影响数学学习障碍者，妇女，少数民族和那些来自较低社会经济背景的人。虽然大量的研究已经证明了数学焦虑的各种相关性和有害影响，但关于导致数学焦虑的直接证据要少得多。本研究的主要目标是探索一个相对较少受到研究关注的数学焦虑的潜在原因：时间压力。时间压力是数学教学和评估的一个主要方面，从小学课堂到大学演讲霍尔斯。这项由乔治城大学研究人员进行的研究项目将解决三个主要问题：（1）数学环境中的时间压力是否会导致当下的数学焦虑，如果是这样，是否有生理标记可以识别它对谁的影响最大？(2)时间压力对数学学习、未来对时间压力的适应力和数学焦虑有长期影响吗？(3)在数学环境中暴露于时间压力是否有不同的影响，无论是积极的还是消极的，这取决于在发展过程中暴露发生的时间？该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）计划的CAREER奖资助，该计划支持推进STEM学习基础研究文献的工作。该项目将使用实验方法（随机对照试验）和纵向方法（交叉滞后纵向设计）。研究人员还将调查三个不同年龄组的学生，他们在数学环境中的时间压力是高度相关的，但可能会以不同的方式对这种时间压力做出反应：小学（二年级），中学（八年级）和大学生。他们将研究时间压力是否会影响数学焦虑和数学表现，时间压力对数学学习和特质水平数学焦虑的影响，以及暴露于时间压力是否会调节数学焦虑和数学能力变化之间的相互作用。他们将使用行为和生理的焦虑措施，如心脏活动。总之，这项工作有可能告知教师如何评估和鼓励学生练习基本数学技能的决定。更广泛地说，这些决定对巩固儿童和成人的数学技能、改变对数学的态度以及平等获得STEM职业都有影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Numeracy and math skills among adults and children in the United States routinely rank poorly relative to those from comparable nations. Progress in mathematics education can be facilitated by identification and removal of factors that impede math engagement and learning. One such factor is anxiety about mathematics. Math anxiety predicts avoidance of math and poor math achievement, and disproportionately affects individuals with math learning disabilities, women, minorities, and those from lower socio- economic backgrounds. Although substantial work has demonstrated the various correlates and deleterious effects of math anxiety, there is much less direct evidence about what causes it. The main goal of this research is to explore one potential cause of math anxiety that has received relatively little research attention: time-pressure. Time-pressure is a major aspect of math instruction and assessment, from elementary classrooms to university lecture halls. This research project, conducted by researchers from Georgetown University, will address three primary questions: (1) Does time-pressure in math settings cause math anxiety in-the-moment and, if so, are there physiological markers that identify on whom it has the greatest impact? (2) Does time-pressure have long-term implications for math learning, future resilience to time pressure, and math anxiety? (3) Does exposure to time-pressure in math settings have differential implications, whether positive or negative, depending on when in development that exposure occurred? The project is funded by a CAREER award from the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning.The project will use both an experimental approach (randomized controlled trial) and a longitudinal approach (cross-lagged longitudinal design). The investigators will also examine three different age groups for whom time-pressure in math settings is highly relevant, but may respond to this time-pressure in different ways: elementary (2nd grade), middle-school (8th grade), and college students. They will examine whether time- pressure impacts math anxiety and math performance in-the-moment, the impact time-pressure has on math learning and trait-level math anxiety, and whether exposure to time-pressure modulates the reciprocal interplay between changes in math anxiety and math ability across development. They will use behavioral as well as physiological measures of anxiety such as cardiac activity. Together, this work has the potential to inform decisions made by instructors about how to assess and encourage students to practice basic math skills. More broadly, these decisions have implications for consolidation of math skills in children and adults, changing attitudes about math, and equality of access to STEM careers.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.