Teaching the Math Anxious Female Student: Teacher Beliefs about Math Anxiety and Strategies to Help Female Students in All-Girls Schools

A research paper submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Teaching, Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of TorontoMath anxiety is a prevalent issue in our education system today. Despite this prevalence, little on the topic of this anxiety is formally addressed in schools. This research investigates the potential causes and effects of math anxiety in female students as well as strategies that teachers can implement in their classroom to alleviate this anxiety. I conducted semi-structured interviews with four math teachers at all-girls independent schools who are aware of this issue and are actively working to help their students. The qualitative data collected from these interviews was analyzed for common themes. Findings regarding teacher beliefs about the causes of math anxiety in female students formed four categories: parental influences, school influences, internal influences and societal influences. Common themes that arose in the data regarding the effects of math anxiety include avoidance and lack of confidence in mathematics. These themes were closely related to ideas that emerged from the literature or provide further insight into math anxiety as experienced by female students in single-sex classrooms. Effective classroom strategies used to help female students with mathematics anxiety are also discussed at length, along with challenges experienced by the participants and their desired opportunities for professional development