Teaching Anxieties Revealed: Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Reflections on their Mathematics Teaching Experiences
Source: Teaching Education, Volume 23, Issue 4, 2012 , pages 365-385
The current study analyzed pre-service teachers’ reflections at the conclusion of an elementary mathematics field experience.
The authors were interested to determine common themes surrounding anxiety-related events based on mathematics practice-teaching experiences.
Through qualitative analysis of pre-service teachers’ reflections, three categories and ten themes surrounding elementary pre-service teachers’ anxiety-related events based on mathematics practice-teaching experiences emerged.
Some of the themes presented were ones that increased pre-service teachers’ anxieties for teaching mathematics, whereas other themes reflected aspects of the field experience that decreased anxiety for teaching mathematics.
The article concludes with suggestions for strategies and materials that could be developed for university mathematics methods courses.
The authors share novel perspectives for considering mathematics teaching anxiety, such as locus of control and future time perspective.