Algebra and the elementary school: Teacher math anxiety and its impact on student achievement

This mixed-methods study examined the relationship between elementary teacher math anxiety based on past learning experiences in algebra and student achievement in algebra. Subjects included 8 teachers and 137 students from Grade 2 at a suburban public school in the southeastern United States. Teacher interviews were conducted, and a modified inductive analysis of the interviews coded the teachers as exhibiting or not exhibiting math anxiety based on their past learning experiences with algebra. T-tests that analyzed these codes and the differences in class and/or student mean scores on the algebra test items from 2 different administrations of a school mandated math assessment indicated that there was no significant relationship between elementary teacher math anxiety based on past learning experiences in algebra and student achievement. More in-depth inductive data analysis of the interviews also revealed that there was no significant relationship between elementary teacher math anxiety and the absence of the cognitive learning steps (from abstract to concrete) and the lack of social learning in their early learning experiences with algebra. Because the theoretical base and conceptual framework of this study were based on the constructivist theory of learning as defined by Piaget and Vygotsky, and because all teachers related their use of strong constructivist practices in their current classrooms while teaching algebraic thinking, results of this study on teacher math anxiety and breaking its cycle of consequences can be directly applied to the teaching and learning of algebra in the elementary school setting.