Ansiedad matemática en docentes de primaria en formación y en ejercicio: un estudio comparativo

Abstract

En esta investigación nos propusimos analizar la Ansiedad Matemática (AM) de una muestra de docentes de primaria en formación y de docentes de primaria en ejercicio, a partir de la ansiedad a la matemática como disciplina (AD), a la resolución de problemas (AP) y ante los exámenes (AE). Además, se determinó la relación entre la AM en ambos grupos y con las variables sexo, edad, grado escolar que le gustaría menos impartir y rendimiento académico. Para la recolección de los datos se aplicó la subescala de Fennema y Sherman (1976). Los resultados muestran que los docentes de primaria en ejercicio presentan una AM, AP y AE significativamente menor que los docentes en formación; además, las mujeres presentan una AM, AD y AP significativamente mayor que los hombres; con respecto a la edad, encontramos que entre mayor edad, la AM, AD, AP y AE es significativamente menor. Se recomienda realizar estrategias de intervención al respecto

Mathematical Anxiety among Primary Education Degree Students in the Post-Pandemic Era: A Case Study

“…Regarding the study by gender, the data show that there are significant differences between men and women in their mathematical anxiety, with men suffering less anxiety when faced with mathematical tasks (2.81 for men compared to 3.19 for women). These conclusions are in line with those by authors such as [13,[24][25][26][32][33][34]45], according to whom the anxiety level is higher for women than for men in every knowledge branch and greater in health sciences and humanities. However, detecting gender differences in the collected data may have been brought about because women are more likely than men to admit to suffering from anxiety.…”

“…The same thing can be deduced from the results obtained according to academic performance. There is a negative correlation between this and mathematical anxiety, which concurs with the results from other previous studies [7,8,34,[41][42][43]45,46]. Mathematical anxiety is related to academic performance via its influence on mathematical ability [20].…”

“…Poor or low self-concept of one's own mathematical ability has a stronger effect on increasing mathematical anxiety than mathematical anxiety has on self-concept [40]. Therefore, better performance implies less anxiety [45,46], as obtained from our study. The students that enjoy doing mathematics gain a positive effect on their confidence in their ability, and confidence and enjoyment are closely linked to student engagement with the subject which, combined with increased effort, will result in improved performance and further increases in confidence in their own ability [8].…”

“…The 19-year-old students had higher average anxiety (3.28) than the 22-year-olds (2.84). One could therefore conclude that the anxiety level decreases with age (the same conclusion as [45]) or because the young students have recently emerged from upper-secondary education, beginning their university studies where the new level of social or family pressure to achieve a qualification is higher than when finishing a degree and when one has already taken the subjects corresponding to mathematics in the degree, thus having already overcome the "fear" or anxiety that they cause. This can also be seen in the results of the study according to the degree year being studied.…”