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Prior research has shown negative relations between math anxiety and math performance. We posit that one potential pathway through which math anxiety influences performance of math equivalencies is through help seeking behavior during learning. Here, we examine whether middle school students' behavior, specifically the frequency of hint requests, within educational technologies mediates the association between math anxiety and performance of math equivalence. Students completed a pretest measuring their performance of math equivalence and math anxiety prior to the intervention, and a posttest measuring their performance of math equivalence. We examine mediation in two online math learning technologies: From Here to There (FH2T) and ASSISTments. In both FH2T and ASSISTments, students can request hints that provide just-in-time support during problem solving. We examined whether the frequency of hint requests mediates the effects of math anxiety on performance in both conditions. Using multi-group mediation analyses, we found that math anxiety was not a predictor of hint usage in either condition when controlling for pretest performance. Further, we found that students with lower performance at the pretest used more hints in the problem set condition, and using more hints was associated with lower performance of math equivalence at the posttest. This relation was not significant in the FH2T condition, suggesting a fundamental difference in hint usage between the two technologies. These findings have implications for designing educational technologies that simultaneously promote math performance and productive help seeking behaviors in middle school students.

We developed an interactive online textbook that interleaves R programming activities with text as a way to facilitate students' understanding of statistical ideas while minimizing the cognitive and emotional burden of learning programming. In this exploratory study, we characterize the attitudes and experiences of 672 undergraduate students as they used our online textbook as part of a 10-week introductory course in statistics. Students expressed negative attitudes and concerns related to R at the beginning of the course, but most developed more positive attitudes after engaging with course materials, regardless of demographic characteristics or prior programming experience. Analysis of a subgroup of students revealed that change in attitudes toward R may be linked to students' patterns of engagement over time and students' perceptions of the learning environment.

Background: Traditional math instruction that emphasizes procedures and rote memorization is common in math classes, particularly within the United States. Students may be able to perform steps and recite information, but flexible thinking in math is also an important ability. Lay theories assume that extensive experience in math would lead to increased flexibility, but some research has posited a change-resistant account, which argues that experience with traditional instruction may make it difficult to think flexibly about even simple concepts. Aims: The current study explored the mathematical flexibility of college students who completed their K-12 education in the United States, and investigated how affective and cognitive factors contributed to flexible thinking. Sample: Participants were 128 undergraduate students at a competitive U.S. public university. Method: Mathematical flexibility was measured through a novel task that asked participants to generate as many strategies as they could for a simple arithmetic problem. These strategies were coded to create scores of fluency (number of strategies) and flexibility (number of unique strategies). Results and Conclusions: On average, participants were only able to provide little more than three unique strategies beyond the primary strategy taught in K-12 classrooms. Measures of math anxiety, math identity, need for cognition, and working memory were all unrelated to flexibility. However, student perceptions of how many possible solutions exist were significantly related to flexibility. These results provide evidence for a change-resistance account and provide further evidence that math flexibility is a unique construct.

Students who begin their educational journeys in community college face many obstacles trying to complete their bachelor's degrees. Much research has been dedicated to identifying academic factors that predict successful transfer and degree attainment, but relatively little research investigates how the community college experience affects these students once enrolled at the four-year university. Here, we present the results of a qualitative study that explored the challenges faced by 14 community college students during and after transfer. Specifically, we focus on student reports of a sense of stigma from having attended community college and how students overcame these feelings. Recommendations are provided for how community colleges and four-year universities can better equip their students with the knowledge and resources to combat this perception of stigma.

Mathematics anxiety is a pervasive issue in education that requires attention from both educators and researchers to help students reach their full academic potential. This review provides an overview of past research that has investigated the association between math anxiety and math achievement, factors that can cause math anxiety, characteristics of students that can increase their susceptibility to math anxiety, and efforts that educators can take to remedy math anxiety. We also derive a new Interpretation Account of math anxiety, which we use to argue the importance of understanding appraisal processes in the development and treatment of math anxiety. In conclusion, gaps in the literature are reviewed in addition to suggestions for future research that can help improve the field's understanding of this important issue.

Although degrees are awarded to students individually, often the processes by which students accomplish this feat are a communal effort. Transfer students, in particular, face a unique set of challenges when transitioning from community college to a four-year university. For this study, three focus groups were conducted with a total of 14 students who recently transferred to a four-year university. Sessions centered on the challenges of transferring, and the relationships and resources they found supportive during the transition. Three areas of support emerged: emotional support, practical support, and campus capital. Parents and friends provided emotional support (verbal encouragement) as well as practical support (i.e., financial support or cooking meals). Faculty and staff at the university were found to provide campus capital, or the campus-specific information needed to successfully navigate the university. Recommendations for supporting transfer students are provided.

People of lower social status tend to have greater emotional responses to stress. The present study assessed whether lower social status was related to greater emotional responses in anticipation of a naturalistic stressor: academic exams among college students. College students in an introductory statistics class (N = 252; 75.81% female; 18.41% Latino, 25.10% White, 43.93% Asian, 12.56% different racial backgrounds) completed two course exams as part of this naturalistic prepost-experimental design. They provided four reports of positive, depressive, and anxious emotion – one the day before and one immediately after each exam. As hypothesized, multilevel models (ratings nested within participants) predicting emotion indicated that students with lower mother's education had less positive emotion, more depressive emotion, and more anxious emotion the day prior to academic exams than students with higher mother's education (proportional reductions in variance [PRV] =.013–.020). Specifically, lower mother's education was associated with poorer well-being before but not after the exam. Exploratory models revealed that differences in emotion by mother's education were strongest for students with lower exam scores (PRV =.030–.040). Socioeconomic status may influence college students' anticipatory distress prior to academic exams, which may impact health and academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore obstacles commonly faced by transfer students before and after transition to a four-year university, focus groups were conducted with 14 students who recently transferred from community college. One of the main sources of anxiety was whether or not community college units transferred to the four-year university. Prior to admittance, students did not always obtain accurate advising at the community college level about which courses to take in order to prepare for transfer. After enrolling at the four-year university, students experienced stress over the significant delay it took for the university to evaluate and transfer their community college units toward their degree progress. In addition, students who transferred from community college often had to face their own doubts about academically succeeding at a university level, wade through an overwhelming amount of information about different universities and majors in order to decide where to apply, and quickly adjust to the new institution by figuring out how to enroll in classes and locate other needed information. Recommendations are provided concerning what community colleges and universities can do to minimize these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]