"Math anxiety is commonly defined as a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance" (Ashcraft, 2002, p. 181). Symptoms of math anxiety are reported by 33% of students by the time they reach the age of 15, possibly contributing to this workforce dilemma (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2013). Many models and perspectives of math anxiety have been established including conceptualizing math anxiety as a function of working memory deficits, sociocultural conditioning, lack of reappraisal, and anxiety as a precursor to escape-maintained behavior. Math anxiety is more common in individuals with certain disabilities, such as developmental dyscalculia and deaf and hard of hearing. Hembree (1990) conducted a meta-analysis of research evaluating intervention effects on math anxiety and its moderators. They reported that cognitive-behavioral interventions were most effective at reducing math anxiety. While definitions of, models examining, and causes and co-occurrences of math anxiety are well examined in current literature, Hembree's (1990) meta- analysis remains the only such investigation for the past 30 years. The purpose of the present study is to conduct an updated meta-analysis based on previous research (Hembree, 1990) but focused on interventions in K-12 school settings. We identified 11 articles between the years of 1990-2020 that met our inclusion criteria. From those articles, we calculated an omnibus effect size, tested homogeneity, evaluated publication bias, explored moderating variables, and assessed methodological rigor. Our Q statistic indicated homogeneity; however, the forest plot and I2 indicated a small amount of heterogeneity. The asymmetric shape of the funnel plot may be indicative of publication bias. The omnibus effect size was g = 0.316. The results of our moderator analysis indicated that math anxiety interventions produce the best results when conducted in targeted small groups. Additionally, three studies were considered methodologically sound. Our findings support the use of school-based interventions to reduce math anxiety, especially when those interventions are implemented as a targeted, small group intervention.

Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med ökad kunskap om matematikångest utifrån ett specialpedagogiskt perspektiv genom att intervjua speciallärare, specialpedagoger och lärare som alla arbetar inom det pedagogiska fältet där matematikångest uppträder. Studien är inspirerad av en kvalitativ ansats med intervjuer som datainsamlingsmetod. I resultatet framkommer en begreppsförvirring kring hur olika respondenterna förklarar begreppet matematikångest och vad de omfattar i dess beskrivning. Speciallärarna, specialpedagogerna och lärarna som medverkar i denna studie bidrar med erfarenheter kring de elever de har mött och på vilket sätt de har arbetat med det stöd och hjälpande insatser för att hindra eller förebygga att matematikångest uppstår. Viktiga faktorer som påtalas i vårt arbete är lärarens undervisning, lärmiljön och elevens individuella förutsättningar så som arbetsminnet och föräldrarnas attityd till ämnet. Forskningen lyfter framgångsrika metoder som kan minska matematikångest för de elever som redan utvecklat detta hinder. Sammanfattningsvis visar vår studie att de hinder som skapar matematikångest hos elever är komplext och vikten av att den specialpedagogiska kompetensen ökar på skolorna för att stödja men även förebygga matematikångest hos elever.

This thesis focuses on the challenges in teaching students with undiagnosed mathematical difficulties in an inclusive environment. Previous research mainly focuses on medically diagnosed mathematical difficulties in special education. Therefore, this study will focus on undiagnosed mathematical difficulties that fall within the teacher’s responsibility in the main classroom, such as math anxiety, lack of motivation and low self-esteem. To include students with these difficulties in the teaching environment, the teacher needs to manage the entailed challenges. This study is based on a hypothesis and associated research questions to investigate what students see as difficulties within mathematics and, more indepth, what teachers see as challenges. The two surveys conducted are based on a quantitative survey and a semi-structured interview. Further, this thesis discusses the students’ difficulties within mathematics, the complexity of the inclusive process and the pedagogical competence. The results show that the time aspect and the need for an excellent pedagogical relationship with the students are two of the most common challenges for the teacher. Further, the conclusion confirms that to succeed with inclusive teaching, the teacher must practice relational pedagogy. Individualized education will also play an important role, which will be a significant challenge in larger groups of students. The study has been conducted under a short time limit, and therefore some convenience-selections have been necessary. Further research could advantageously contain the same hypothesis and be carried out in a larger population and for a more extended period.

"Math anxiety is commonly defined as a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance" (Ashcraft, 2002, p. 181). Symptoms of math anxiety are reported by 33% of students by the time they reach the age of 15, possibly contributing to this workforce dilemma (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2013). Many models and perspectives of math anxiety have been established including conceptualizing math anxiety as a function of working memory deficits, sociocultural conditioning, lack of reappraisal, and anxiety as a precursor to escape-maintained behavior. Math anxiety is more common in individuals with certain disabilities, such as developmental dyscalculia and deaf and hard of hearing. Hembree (1990) conducted a meta-analysis of research evaluating intervention effects on math anxiety and its moderators. They reported that cognitive-behavioral interventions were most effective at reducing math anxiety. While definitions of, models examining, and causes and co-occurrences of math anxiety are well examined in current literature, Hembree's (1990) meta- analysis remains the only such investigation for the past 30 years. The purpose of the present study is to conduct an updated meta-analysis based on previous research (Hembree, 1990) but focused on interventions in K-12 school settings. We identified 11 articles between the years of 1990-2020 that met our inclusion criteria. From those articles, we calculated an omnibus effect size, tested homogeneity, evaluated publication bias, explored moderating variables, and assessed methodological rigor. Our Q statistic indicated homogeneity; however, the forest plot and I2 indicated a small amount of heterogeneity. The asymmetric shape of the funnel plot may be indicative of publication bias. The omnibus effect size was g = 0.316. The results of our moderator analysis indicated that math anxiety interventions produce the best results when conducted in targeted small groups. Additionally, three studies were considered methodologically sound. Our findings support the use of school-based interventions to reduce math anxiety, especially when those interventions are implemented as a targeted, small group intervention.

No description available.

No description available.

Elever som hamnar i matematiksvårigheter ska, utöver ledning och stimulans, genom extra anpassningar och/eller särskilt stöd få det stöd som krävs för att de ska kunna nå utbildningens mål. Elever erbjuds i en del fall, utöver stöd från ämneslärare i helklass, särskilt stöd av speciallärare, specialpedagoger eller lärare med specialpedagogisk kompetens. Det stödet kan ges i särskild undervisningsgrupp till skillnad från stöd från lärare som ges i den ordinarie undervisningen. Elever får därför undervisning av olika lärare och i den här studien undersöks lärarsamarbete kring undervisning av dessa elever. Syftet är att undersöka hur några ämneslärare, speciallärare/specialpedagog och lärare med specialpedagogisk kompetens i matematik samarbetar i det dagliga arbetet kring elever i behov av särskilt stöd. I den småskaliga studien undersöks lärarnas samarbete kring elever som delar sin undervisning och går mellan en klassrumssituation och en särskild undervisningsgrupp. Det är en kvalitativ studie där data har samlats in via semistrukturerade intervjuer. Elva lärare har deltagit i studien. Lärare avser här ämneslärare, speciallärare/specialpedagog och lärare med specialpedagogisk kompetens. Studiens resultat visar att skolorna oftast har en ”studio” eller motsvarande dit eleverna går vissa lektioner men att det verkar saknas ett systematiskt samarbete kring elever som får stöd i särskild undervisningsgrupp. I ”studion” finns större tillgång till laborativt och konkret material jämfört med i det vanliga klassrummet samt att fler uppgifter görs muntligen där. När eleven deltar i helklassundervisning ges eleven extra anpassningar i form av att läraren väljer vilka uppgifter eleven ska göra, möjlighet till paus under lektion och eleven arbetar oftast tyst för sig själv. De faktorer som påverkar samarbetet mellan lärarna upplevs vara organisation, kommunikation och relation.

No description available.

During our studies to becom special teachers in mathematics development, we have developed an interest in students who show resistance to the subject of matehmatics or mathematics teaching. The purpose of the study is to investigate teaching that promotes learning for pupils in mathematics anxiety, to distinguish any challenges that the teachers might encounter in teaching and to make visible future collaboration between the teachers and the special education teachers to support learning for pupils with mathematics anxiety. This has been done through semi-structured interviews and observations of primary and middle school teachers. The method used was inspired by grounded theory. The results were analyzed using sociocultural theory. The entire study rests on a relational perspective, which sees the student in difficulties and not with difficulties. The conclusion drawn from the study was that the teachers agreed with research in the field about which teaching methods are beneficial for students in mathematics anxiety. They also agreed with the research about the challenges that can arise in working with these students. Several different examples of collaboration between the teachers and the special education teachers emerged during the interviews. However, several challenges were identified which prevent teachers from implementing these methods in everyday teaching. A challenge in this may, for example, be that the special teachers in mathematics development are few in the schools. Another challenge can be that the teachers request pedagogical guidance where didactic issues can be raised, but that forum is missing in many schools.

The present study examines whether or not a person's anxiety level might be linked to their learning performance. Many studies in the past have examined math and test anxiety, but the present study will examine the effects of death anxiety on learning performance. Individual's anxiety will attempt to be induced through fear of death. Participants were presented a set of four symptoms, similar to Gluck and Bower's 1988 category learning study. The participants were asked whether or not they think the symptoms of the patient are positive for COVID-19 or positive for the flu. The hypothesis was that there would be a negative correlation between death anxiety and learning performance (i.e. participants who score high in death anxiety will score with lower accuracy in the learning task). The signal detection model was used to analyze the data for accuracy levels, the ability to discriminate between categories (d'), and the response bias towards COVID-19 (β). The present study found results to support the hypothesis that high death anxiety caused lower performance levels. Results found that death anxiety is a predictor of classification of bias towards a more serious disease in classification. This bias seems to be unrelated to state anxiety, or STAI scores. The signal detection model indicates a predicted effect on discriminability index, which negatively correlated to pre-experiment death anxiety levels. Additionally, although the predicted response bias showed up in the data, it was not correlated with death anxiety levels. There was also no relation to political affiliation, which was thought to bias beliefs about COVID-19.