Math anxiety has the potential to negatively impact a student’s knowledge and awareness of themselves. This anxiety leaves students with feelings of incapability in learning math because of their existing beliefs they received in their early years in their educations. The purpose of this research was to better understand the development of middle school eighth grade students and their teachers’ math anxiety while also exploring the obstacles that anxiety creates preventing and/or inhibiting teachers from teaching the required standardized lessons. My research shows that without a trusting relationship between the teacher and student, students experience a decline in mathematics performance which affects their learning experience, perception, skills, self-efficacy, and perseverance. Taking a qualitative approach, the thesis builds from interviews and surveys from five students and five teachers about their experiences learning and teachings of mathematics. The findings from this research demonstrate that teachers who focus on developing students’ own self-confidence in math while engaging students in the learning process effectively reducing student math anxiety.
Keywords Math Anxiety Effective teacher modeling Self-efficacy Self-regulation Negative experiences Trust
","abstract_html":"<p>Math anxiety has the potential to negatively impact a student’s knowledge and awareness of themselves. This anxiety leaves students with feelings of incapability in learning math because of their existing beliefs they received in their early years in their educations. The purpose of this research was to better understand the development of middle school eighth grade students and their teachers’ math anxiety while also exploring the obstacles that anxiety creates preventing and/or inhibiting teachers from teaching the required standardized lessons. My research shows that without a trusting relationship between the teacher and student, students experience a decline in mathematics performance which affects their learning experience, perception, skills, self-efficacy, and perseverance. Taking a qualitative approach, the thesis builds from interviews and surveys from five students and five teachers about their experiences learning and teachings of mathematics. The findings from this research demonstrate that teachers who focus on developing students’ own self-confidence in math while engaging students in the learning process effectively reducing student math anxiety.</p> <p><strong>Keywords </strong>Math Anxiety Effective teacher modeling Self-efficacy Self-regulation Negative experiences Trust</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Baas, Bradley"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jennifer Lucko, PhD","Whitney Hoyt, MS"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-04-28T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-04-28T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:04:51Z","subjects":["Math Anxiety","Mathematics","Math Education","Education","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-masters-theses/17","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jennifer Lucko, PhD","Whitney Hoyt, MS"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Baas, Bradley"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-04-28T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Math Anxiety","Mathematics","Math Education","Education","Social and Behavioral Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-masters-theses/17"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Math anxiety has the potential to negatively impact a student’s knowledge and awareness of themselves. This anxiety leaves students with feelings of incapability in learning math because of their existing beliefs they received in their early years in their educations. The purpose of this research was to better understand the development of middle school eighth grade students and their teachers’ math anxiety while also exploring the obstacles that anxiety creates preventing and/or inhibiting teachers from teaching the required standardized lessons. My research shows that without a trusting relationship between the teacher and student, students experience a decline in mathematics performance which affects their learning experience, perception, skills, self-efficacy, and perseverance. Taking a qualitative approach, the thesis builds from interviews and surveys from five students and five teachers about their experiences learning and teachings of mathematics. The findings from this research demonstrate that teachers who focus on developing students’ own self-confidence in math while engaging students in the learning process effectively reducing student math anxiety.
Keywords Math Anxiety Effective teacher modeling Self-efficacy Self-regulation Negative experiences Trust
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Perceptions and Experiences of Math Anxiety"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jennifer Lucko, PhD","Whitney Hoyt, MS"],"dc:creator":["Baas, Bradley"],"dc:date.available":["2023-04-28T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Math anxiety has the potential to negatively impact a student’s knowledge and awareness of themselves. This anxiety leaves students with feelings of incapability in learning math because of their existing beliefs they received in their early years in their educations. The purpose of this research was to better understand the development of middle school eighth grade students and their teachers’ math anxiety while also exploring the obstacles that anxiety creates preventing and/or inhibiting teachers from teaching the required standardized lessons. My research shows that without a trusting relationship between the teacher and student, students experience a decline in mathematics performance which affects their learning experience, perception, skills, self-efficacy, and perseverance. Taking a qualitative approach, the thesis builds from interviews and surveys from five students and five teachers about their experiences learning and teachings of mathematics. The findings from this research demonstrate that teachers who focus on developing students’ own self-confidence in math while engaging students in the learning process effectively reducing student math anxiety.
Keywords Math Anxiety Effective teacher modeling Self-efficacy Self-regulation Negative experiences Trust
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-masters-theses/17"],"dc:subject":["Math Anxiety","Mathematics","Math Education","Education","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"dc:title":["The Perceptions and Experiences of Math Anxiety"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:04:51Z"}