Preservice Science and Mathematics Teachers’ Mathematics Anxiety and Beliefs about the Nature of Mathematics

Abstract

The aim of the research is to examine preservice science and preservice mathematics teachers’ mathematics anxiety and beliefs about the nature of mathematics, as well as to reveal whether they differ according to the teacher training program. Moreover, this study investigates whether there is a relationship between beliefs about the nature of mathematics and mathematics anxiety. The study consisted of a survey research and was carried out with 213 junior and senior preservice elementary science and mathematics teachers. Data collection tools were Philosophical Thoughts about the Nature of Mathematics Scale (PTNM) and Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS). Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze mathematics anxiety and beliefs scores of preservice elementary teachers. The study revealed that most of the preservice teachers’ scores on beliefs about the nature of mathematics were high and their mathematics anxiety scores were low. The results indicated that there were significant differences in both belief scores and mathematics anxiety scores in favor of preservice mathematics teachers. In addition, there was a high negative correlation between preservice teachers’ PTNM and MAS scores.