Date of Award

1999

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

Past research has shown that many preservice elementary teachers exhibit high levels of math anxiety. Knowledge about the learning styles of preservice elementary teachers can provide information to further the understanding of math anxiety. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of math anxiety andEducational cognitive style to achievement in a mathematics content course for preservice elementary teachers. One hundred fifty students enrolled in two mathematics content courses at a public midwestern university served as the population. An abbreviated version of the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) was used to measure math anxiety. The Albany Instrument, which is a modified version of Hill'sEducational Cognitive Style Interest Inventory, was used to measure twenty-five elements ofEducational cognitive style. The final grade in the course was used to measure mathematics achievement. A series of stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine which elements of cognitive style were significantly related to math anxiety, and to achievement in the mathematics content courses. Seven of theEducational cognitive style elements accounted for 29.9% of the variance in the MARS scores, which was significant at p < 0.001. Five of theEducational cognitive style elements accounted for 29.6% of the variation in achievement, which was significant at p < 0.001. The addition of MARS to these five elements accounted for a significant increase (p < 0.05) of 2.5% in the variation of achievement. There were significant interaction effects between MARS and four of theEducational cognitive style elements on achievement. These interaction effects accounted for a significant increase (p < 0.05) of 7.8% in the variation of achievement. Suggestions for further research include: (1) replicating the study by using other learning style instruments and measures of math anxiety; (2) examining the role of nonverbal communication to achievement with respect to gender and ethnic background; (3) examining familial influences on math anxiety and achievement by using qualitative methods.

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