Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Mathematics Anxiety In Ninth-Grade Pre-Algebra, Jacquelyn D. Tretter

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this qualitative action research study, five lower-achieving freshman prealgebra students in a rural high school were interviewed about mathematics anxiety. The subjects ranged in age from 13 to 15 years and included three boys and two girls, of which one was Hispanic, one was African-American, and three were Caucasian. These students had tested below the fourth-grade level in mathematics during their eighth-grade year and were placed in special pre-algebra classes, which met for 30 additional minutes each day and progressed with more depth, but at a slower pace.

The researcher employed personal interviews to answer the research question: How …