Monitor children's math anxiety from the earliest stages of schooling to support proficient math performance¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends that teachers and schools attend to math anxiety from the beginning of primary school, because anxiety at that age already predicts later math performance. As the authors state, these findings "highlight the importance of monitoring anxiety from the early stages of schooling in order to promote proficient academic performance". The strategy is grounded in the longitudinal finding that Grade 2 math anxiety indirectly affected Grade 3 performance.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Early-years teachers need a way to observe or assess children's math anxiety alongside math performance monitoring.

Constraints¶

• The recommendation rests on a single longitudinal study of Grade 2 to Grade 3 children; the article does not print a tested intervention for reducing anxiety.

Target Learners¶

• Early primary school children (Grades 2-3)

Target Learning Goals¶

• Mathematics proficiency

Claims¶

• Math anxiety in Grade 2 shows an indirect effect on subsequent math performance in Grade 3 [+W]
• Math anxiety arises and relates to math performance already in early primary school (Grades 2-3) [+W]
• The association between math anxiety and math performance is significant in Grade 3 after accounting for general anxiety [+W]
• The prevalent direction of the Grade 3 anxiety-performance link runs from math anxiety to performance, not the reverse [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Reduce math anxiety in children with DD by improving math achievement early through targeted interventions
• Promote motivation alongside executive functioning and early numeracy development from the earliest stages of mathematics education
• Provide early intensified support for struggling arithmetic learners and design mathematics environments that promote positive emotions

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Cargnelutti, E., Tomasetto, C., Passolunghi, M.C. (2017). How is anxiety related to math performance in young students? A longitudinal study of Grade 2 to Grade 3 children. COGNITION & EMOTION, 31(4), 755-764. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2016.1147421