Abstract
Math anxiety is defined as negative feelings associated with mathematical tasks in educational but also real-life situations. Evidence shows that math anxiety negatively affects the ability to solve mathematical tasks. Game-based learning has proven to be an effective approach to improve attitudes toward math. This study looked at the effects of a game-based version of a fraction estimation task on math anxiety and estimation performance when directly compared to a non-game-based task version. Participants aged 18–25-years-old were assessed on their math anxiety levels before and after completing both task versions. Changes in reported math anxiety levels through completion of either the game-based or non-game-based version were then compared. Analyses indicated no significant difference in the change of math anxiety (nor state anxiety as a control variable), nor significant differences in estimation performance due to task version. This seems to indicate no significant influence of game-based presentation of the fraction estimation task on reported math anxiety. Nevertheless, it needs to be considered that levels of math anxiety were generally low in our sample of university students. The current study can be considered a first step toward systematically investigating effects of game-based learning approaches on math anxiety. Accordingly, current results call for further research on a more math-anxious sample to investigate the potential benefits of a game-based task version on math anxiety and fraction estimation performance.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aarnos, E., Perkkilä, P.: Early signs of mathematics anxiety? Proc. – Soc. Behav. Sci. 46, 1495–1499 (2012)
Dowker, A., Sarkar, A., Looi, C.Y.: Mathematics anxiety: what have we learned in 60 years? Front. Psychol. 7(APR), 508 (2016)
Ashcraft, M.H.: Math anxiety: personal, educational and cognitive consequences. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 11, 181–185 (2002)
Ramirez, G., Gunderson, E.A., Levine, S.C., Beilock, S.L.: Math anxiety, working memory, and math achievement in early elementary school. J. Cogn. Dev. 14(2), 187–202 (2013)
Dew, K.H., Galassi, J.P., Galassi, M.D.: Math anxiety: relation with situational test anxiety, performance, physiological arousal, and math avoidance behavior. J. Couns. Psychol. 31(4), 580–583 (1984)
Hill, F., Mammarella, I.C., Devine, A., Caviola, S., Passolunghi, M.C., Szűcs, D.: Math anxiety in primary and secondary school students: gender differences, developmental changes and anxiety specificity. Learn. Individ. Differ. 48, 45–53 (2016)
Chen, P.-Y., Hwang, G.-J., Yeh, S.-Y., Chen, Y.-T., Chen, T.-W., Chien, C.-H.: Three decades of game-based learning in science and mathematics education: an integrated bibliometric analysis and systematic review. J. Comput. Educ. 9, 1–22 (2021)
Stent, A.: Can math anxiety be conquered?. Change: Mag. High. Learn. 9(1), 40–43 (1977)
Kiili, K., Ketamo, H.: Evaluating cognitive and affective outcomes of a digital game-based math test. IEEE Trans. Learn. Technol. 11, 255–263 (2018)
White, K., McCoy, L.P.: Effects of game-based learning on attitude and achievement in elementary mathematics. Netw.: Online J. Teach. Res. 21(10), 1–17 (2019)
Wouters, P., van Nimwegen, C., van Oostendorp, H., van der Spek, E.D.: A meta-analysis of the cognitive and motivational effects of serious games. J. Educ. Psychol. 105(2), 249–265 (2013)
Dondio, P., Santos, F.H., Gusev, V., Rocha, M.: Do games reduce maths anxiety? A review of the current literature. In: ECGBL 2021. Proceedings of the 15th European Conference on Game Based Learning, pp. 287–292. ACI, Brighton (2021)
O’Rourke, J., Main, S., Hill, S.: Commercially available digital game technology in the classroom: improving automaticity in mental-math in primary-aged students. Aust. J. Teach. Educ. 42(10), 50–70 (2017)
Chen, C.-H.: Impacts of augmented reality and a digital game on students’ science learning with reflection prompts in multimedia learning. Educ. Technol. Res. Dev. 68(6), 3057–3076 (2020)
Sailer, M., Homner, L.: The gamification of learning: a meta-analysis. Educ. Psychol. Rev. 32(1), 77–112 (2020)
Gil-Doménech, D., Berbegal-Mirabent, J.: Stimulating students’ engagement in mathematics courses in non-STEM academic programmes: a game-based learning. Innov. Educ. Teach. Int. 56(1), 57–65 (2019)
DeWolf, M., Vosniadou, S.: The representation of fraction magnitudes and the whole number bias reconsidered. Learn. Instr. 37, 39–49 (2015)
Hopko, D.R., Mahadevan, R., Bare, R.L., Hunt, M.K.: The abbreviated math anxiety scale (AMAS). Assessment 10(2), 178–182 (2003)
Spielberger, C.D.: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults. PsycTESTS Dataset (1983)
Siegler, R.S., Opfer, J.E.: The development of numerical estimation: evidence for multiple representations of numerical quantity. Psychol. Sci. 14, 237–243 (2003)
Ninaus, M., Kiili, K., Wood, G., Moeller, K., Kober, S.E.: To add or not to add game elements? Exploring the effects of different cognitive task designs using eye tracking. IEEE Trans. Learn. Technol. 13(4), 847–860 (2020)
Guiard, Y., Rioul, O.: A mathematical description of the speed/accuracy trade-off of aimed movement. In: Proceedings of the 2015 British HCI Conference, pp. 91–100 (2015)
Maloney, E.A., Risko, E.F., Ansari, D., Fugelsang, J.: Mathematics anxiety affects counting but not subitising during visual enumeration. Cognition 114(2), 293–297 (2010)
Alsina, C.: Why the professor must be a stimulating teacher. In: Holton, D., Artigue, M., Kirchgräber, U., Hillel, J., Niss, M., Schoenfeld, A. (eds.) The Teaching and Learning of Mathematics at University Level. NISS, vol. 7, pp. 3–12. Springer, Dordrecht (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47231-7_1
Griggs, M.S., Rimm-Kaufman, S.E., Merritt, E.G., Patton, C.L.: The responsive classroom approach and fifth grade students’ math and science anxiety and self-efficacy. Sch. Psychol. Q. 28(4), 360–373 (2013)
Greipl, S., et al.: When the brain comes into play: neurofunctional correlates of emotions and reward in game-based learning. Comput. Hum. Behav. 125, 106946 (2021)
Clark, D., Tanner-Smith, E., Killingsworth, S.: Digital games, design, and learning: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Rev. Educ. Res. 86(1), 79–122 (2016)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Maisey, J., Thoma, G., Moeller, K., Kiili, K., Ninaus, M. (2022). Effects of a Game-Based Fraction Estimation Task on Math Anxiety. In: Kiili, K., Antti, K., de Rosa, F., Dindar, M., Kickmeier-Rust, M., Bellotti, F. (eds) Games and Learning Alliance. GALA 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13647. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22124-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22124-8_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-22123-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-22124-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)