Research

Exploring mathematical anxiety in undergraduate higher education students

Principal investigator: Rehan SHAH
Co-investigator(s): Ric Crossman (Durham) and Lucy Katesmark (Durham graduate)

Mathematics anxiety (MA) is a well-known and extensively studied issue within the discipline of mathematics education . Studies have shown MA affects UK children from as young as five  and continues to be present among students in the UK at the HE level. One area in which MA has not been commonly considered is UK mathematics degrees. Intuitively, we might think those choosing to study mathematics at university would be immune to MA, but recent work suggests it may exist in around 25% of newly-arrived UK 1st year UG maths students. This anxiety may persist throughout an undergraduate degree and be associated with reduced academic performance, and may become exacerbated due to the increased difficulty of mathematics at the university level (this relates to the concept of mathematical resilience). These results need further exploration in the UK context. In particular, the possibility of increased MA over time, as students lose their earlier comfort with and sense of achievement in maths and they potentially fall into cycles of suboptimal academic practice, requires study. This project involves conducting a landscape review into exploring mathematical anxeity among mathematics university students, how what has been found relates to mathematical resilience, disengagement, and suboptimal academic practice, and map out a route for further work in this space.