Student Attitude, Student Understanding and Mathematics Anxiety

This paper reports on two of ten themes that emerged from a study of the impacts of a fraction teaching intervention on the mathematics anxiety and fraction competence of eight Year 8 students. The themes arose from multiple data sources and relate to Student Attitude and Student Understanding. The students identified practical, hands-on activities and group work as impacting positively on their understanding and their confidence in relation to fractions. The influence of improved understanding and confidence was also recorded as positively affecting student attitudes to fractions in particular and mathematics in general. The study highlights the connections between mathematics anxiety among middle school students and their existing understandings of and attitudes towards mathematics. (Contains 2 tables.) [For the complete proceedings, "Shaping the Future of Mathematics Education. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (33rd, Freemantle, Western Australia, Australia, July 3-7, 2010)," see ED520764.]