The effects of self-regulation, motivation, anxiety, and attributions on mathematics achievement for fifth and sixth grade students

Melanie Shores & David M. Shannon

For this quantitative study, a total of n = 761 students (58.1% female) from selected fifth- and sixth-grade mathematics classrooms in Alabama were surveyed in order to investigate the relationships between self-regulated learning, motivation, anxiety, attributions and achievement in mathematics. Data analyses revealed that significant contributions are made by motivation and anxiety on both test score and mathematics grade for fifth grade students. Specific factors (e.g., self-efficacy, worry, other, and failure) were related to academic performance while failure attribution was significantly related to mathematics grade. As for sixth grade students, data analyses showed relationships exist between motivation, anxiety and academic performance with specific factors (i.e., self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and worry) significantly predicting both test score and mathematics grade for sixth graders. The findings underlie the importance of motivation and anxiety for students and how these constructs interact to facilitate self-regulation over the course of developing expertise in a domain, such as mathematics.

Preservice Teachers' Beliefs About Knowledge, Mathematics, and Science

Na-Young Kwon & Chandra Hawley Orrill

This study examines the beliefs of K-8 preservice teachers during a content methods course. The goals of this course included exposing the preservice teachers to student-centered instructional methods for math and science and encouraging the development of lessons that would integrate mathematics and science. Prior research suggested that one must consider preservice teachers' epistemic beliefs (Cady, Meier & Lubinski, 2006a) as it influences their interpretation of the teacher education program. In this study, preservice teachers epistemic beliefs were identified, their beliefs about mathematics and science teaching and learning were identified and compared, and their descriptions of lessons that integrated mathematics and science were assessed. Findings suggest that preservice teachers made decisions based on an external locus of control and harbored greater anxiety about teaching math as compared to teaching science. They also indicate that the integration of mathematics and science in lesson plans was contrived.

Understanding a Teacher's Reflections: A Case Study of a Middle School Mathematics Teacher

Na-Young Kwon & Chandra Hawley Orrill

The purpose of this research was to understand how one teacher reflected on different classroom situations and to understand whether the teacher's approach to these reflections changed over time. For the purposes of this study, we considered reflection as the teacher's act of interpreting her own practices and students' thinking to make sense of student understanding and how teaching might relate to that understanding. We investigated a middle school mathematics teacher's reflection on her students while watching videotapes of her classroom and categorized the reflection as Assess, Interpret, Describe, Justify, and Extend. The results show a higher percentage of Extend instances in later interviews than in earlier ones indicating the teacher's increasing attention to her own teaching in how her students developed their understanding. In addition, her reflection became clearer and better integrated as defined by the Cohen and Ball's triangle of interactions.