Do future mathematicians have math anxiety?

Resumen

Mathematics is a difficult subject to teach and learn, being professionals engaged in it people with low anxiety toward Mathematics. The aim of this study is to provide new data regarding student anxiety towards mathematics; in this case, third level students of Mathematical Sciences. 149 students from different Spanish universities met in Murcia in the 13th National Meeting of Mathematics Students (24-28 July 2012), participated in the study and data were gathered by means of two anxiety Likert-type scales of 5 values, being 1 the lowest and 5 the highest: Auzmendi subscale and Fennema-Sherman. Results showed that anxiety towards mathematics in future mathematicians was 1.767 (Auzmendi) and 2.007 (Fennema-Sherman). This corresponds to a
general subscale result of 1.714: 2.093 in problem resolution and 2.501 in exams, providing the novelty of being exclusive to Degree and Bachelor students of Mathematics and contrast their anxiety by age and professional future, being the correlation between their last mark in a subject and their Anxiety of -0.250 (Fennema-Sherman). Results showed a correlation between both scales of 648. Women were shown to have more anxiety than men (Fennema-Sherman scale), students 21
years old or older has more anxiety than under 21 (Fennema-Sherman general subscale), and future math teachers had more anxiety than those who would not become teachers (both scales).
In all cases, students with a future in Mathematics had low – though higher than desired – levels of anxiety. Implications for future research, and the importance of extending of the study into areas of education such as elementary education which are not related specifically to Mathematics, will be discussed.