Investigation Of Pre-Service Elementary Education Teachers’ Mathematics Anxiety Levels And Their Perceptions About Mathematics Anxiety Sources

The aim of this study is to determine the mathematics anxiety levels of pre-service elementary education teachers and to investigate the sources of their mathematics anxiety. This study was conducted with 150 pre-service elementary school teachers. In order to gather data, ‘Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale: Short Form’ (Baloglu, 2010) was applied to the pre-service teachers. Additionally, interviews were carried out five pre-service teachers. In the analysis of gained quantitative data, descriptive statistics were used. Furthermore, the interview data were analysed by conducting qualitative analytic methods. Results demonstrate that, pre-service teachers’ mathematical anxiety level average was between ‘never feel anxious’ and ‘very rarely feel anxious’. However, six pre-service teachers’ anxiety level were at ‘feel anxious’. Five of them were voluntary for conducting semi-structured interviews. According to interviews, the sources of these teachers’ mathematical anxiety was determined by parent-teacher attitudes, inadequate study on mathematics, examination of their mathematical knowledge, lack of confidence, and the importance of mathematics in education system.