Mathematical anxiety is a feeling of tension, apprehension or fear which arises when a person is faced with mathematical content. The negative consequences of mathematical anxiety are well-documented. Students with high levels of mathematical anxiety might underperform in important test situations, they tend to hold negative attitudes towards mathematics, and they are likely to opt out of elective mathematics courses, which also affects their career opportunities. Although at the university level many students do not continue to study mathematics, social science students are confronted with the fact that their disciplines involve learning about statistics - another potential source of anxiety for students who are uncomfortable with dealing with numerical content. Research on mathematical anxiety is a truly interdisciplinary field with contributions from educational, developmental, cognitive, social and neuroscience researchers. The current collection of papers demonstrates the diversity of the field, offering both new empirical contributions and reviews of existing studies. The contributors also outline future directions for this line of research.

Feelings of apprehension and fear brought on by mathematical performance can affect correct mathematical application and can influence the achievement and future paths of individuals affected by it. In recent years, mathematics anxiety has become a subject of increasing interest both in educational and clinical settings. This ground-breaking collection presents theoretical, educational and psychophysiological perspectives on the widespread phenomenon of mathematics anxiety. Featuring contributions from leading international researchers, Mathematics Anxiety challenges preconceptions and clarifies several crucial areas of research, such as the distinction between mathematics anxiety from other forms of anxiety (i.e., general or test anxiety); the ways in which mathematics anxiety has been assessed (e.g. throughout self-report questionnaires or psychophysiological measures); the need to clarify the direction of the relationship between math anxiety and mathematics achievement (which causes which). Offering a revaluation of the negative connotations usually associated with mathematics anxiety and prompting avenues for future research, this book will be invaluable to academics and students in the field psychological and educational sciences, as well as teachers working with students who are struggling with mathematics anxiety

The last decade has seen a rapid growth in our understanding of the cognitive systems that underlie mathematical learning and performance, and an increased recognition of the importance of this topic. This book showcases international research on the most important cognitive issues that affect mathematical performance across a wide age range, from early childhood to adulthood. The book considers the foundational competencies of nonsymbolic and symbolic number processing before discussing arithmetic, conceptual understanding, individual differences and dyscalculia, algebra, number systems, reasoning and higher-level mathematics such as formal proof. Drawing on diverse methodology from behavioural experiments to brain imaging, each chapter discusses key theories and empirical findings and introduces key tasks used by researchers. The final chapter discusses challenges facing the future development of the field of mathematical cognition and reviews a set of open questions that mathematical cognition researchers should address to move the field forward. This book is ideal for undergraduate or graduate students of psychology, education, cognitive sciences, cognitive neuroscience and other academic and clinical audiences including mathematics educators and educational psychologists.

This richly updated third edition of Math Instruction for Students with Learning Difficulties presents a research-based approach to mathematics instruction designed to build confidence and competence in preservice and inservice PreK- 12 teachers. Referencing benchmarks of both the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, this essential text addresses teacher and student attitudes towards mathematics as well as language issues, specific mathematics disabilities, prior experiences, and cognitive and metacognitive factors. Chapters on assessment and instruction precede strands that focus on critical concepts. Replete with suggestions for class activities and field extensions, the new edition features current research across topics and an innovative thread throughout chapters and strands: multi-tiered systems of support as they apply to mathematics instruction.