Mathematics anxiety and contemplative pedagogy at the post-secondary level
department or school: Education, Faculty of
department or school: Education, School of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Shayer, Leslie Pauline
issued: 2024-07-10T18:14:27Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Mathematics has long been known as a gatekeeper subject in post-secondary programs, erecting barriers to mathematical success and career. Bleak attitudes surrounding mathematics as well as math anxiety, or negative emotional or physiological responses to mathematics content, compound this subject’s challenges, diminishing life chances for many post-secondary students. The result is not only the spread of negative mathematics attitudes, but also poor performance in mathematics as well as avoidance of mathematics, including STEM, subjects and careers. Using a mixed method design including a two-stage data collection process, this study investigated how contemplative pedagogy could support students in post-secondary mandatory mathematics courses. Two sections of the same course formed the sample, with one being the control and the other, the intervention group. The latter group incorporated evidenced-based practices from contemplative pedagogy after the first course test. Qualitative datasets were formed by researcher field notes, Math Origin Stories, and individual semi-structured interviews, while the quantitative ones comprised of pre- and post-test questionnaires (the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and the Math Anxiety Rating Scale) as well as course grades. After triangulating the themes emanating from the use of grounded theory to the qualitative data with the conclusions drawn from statistical data analyses applied to the quantitative data, positive results emerged. The use of contemplative pedagogy was a viable intervention to reduce math anxiety, diminish math avoidance, improve math attitudes, and increase math performance. Results further indicated that contemplative pedagogy fostered the building of community in the classroom and led to positive transformations by those in the intervention group. The contemplative pedagogy included in this research shows promising results, suggesting that this intervention may be effective as student supports as they …
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/88612
note: MATHEMATICS ANXIETY AND CONTEMPLATIVE PEDAGOGY AT THE POST-SECONDARY LEVEL by Leslie Pauline Shayer M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2020 M.Math., University of Waterloo, 1998 B.Sc., University of Guelph, 1996 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) July 2024 © Leslie Pauline Shayer, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a dissertation entitled: MATHEMATICS ANXIETY AND CONTEMPLATIVE PEDAGOGY AT THE POST-SECONDARY LEVEL submitted by Leslie Pauline Shayer in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dr. Karen Ragoonaden, Okanagan School of Education Supervisor Dr. Sabre Cherkowski, Okanagan School of Education Supervisory Committee Member Dr. David Geary, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Javad Tavakoli, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Cynthia Nicol, The University of British Columbia (Vancouver) University Examiner Dr. Nathalie Sinclair, Simon Fraser University External Examiner iii Abstract Mathematics has long been known as a gatekeeper subject in post-secondary programs, erecting barriers to mathematical success and career. Bleak attitudes surrounding mathematics as well as math anxiety, or negative emotional or physiological responses to mathematics content, compound this subject’s challenges, diminishing life chances for many post-secondary students. The result is not only the spread of negative mathematics attitudes, but also poor performance in mathematics as well as avoidance of mathematics, including STEM, subjects and careers. Using a mixed method design including a two-stage data collection process, this study investigated how contemplative pedagogy could suppor…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2024-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0444116
language: eng
degree discipline: Interdisciplinary Studies
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Ragoonaden, Karen
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88612