Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Undergraduate

Department

Honors

First Advisor

Kelly McCormick Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Rebecca Nisetitch, Ph.D.

Abstract

This paper explores the perceived bias against the mathematics (math) discipline. Specifically, it will explore the concept of math anxiety (MA) and why the broad idea of the apparent negativity towards math is so pervasive. The paper does so through two different avenues; the first approach being a literature review of the data and arguments from psychology and math education journals that have been previously published. The second method provided is one performed specifically for this thesis in which data from a University of Southern Maine (USM) MAT 100 course was collected from student responses submitted at the end of the academic semester. The data, qualitative in nature, was used to find if the overall perception of mathematics was truly negative, and what grade in particular (if any) most respondents appeared to have their most impactful experience in. The conclusion from the MAT 100 analysis was that the perception of mathematics does indeed skew negative, at least among respondents, and that the pivotal grade for respondents was their first year of high school. This prompts future discussion on why this year appears to be so impactful and ways that this could change.

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