Working Memory Capacity and Mathematics Anxiety of Mathematics Undergraduate Students and Its Effect on Mathematics Achievement

Year 2020, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 271 - 290, 15.03.2020

Dwi Juniati , I Ketut Budayasa

https://doi.org/10.17478/jegys.653518

Cited By: 13

Abstract

This quantitative study aimed the first to investigate the working memory capacity and mathematics anxiety of mathematics undergraduate students based on differences in sex and grade. The second to know the effect of working memory capacity and mathematics anxiety on mathematics achievement. The t-test and MANOVA-test were used to answer the first aim of the study and the multiple linear regression test was used to answer the second aim. A total of 90 students participated in this study which was obtained by cluster random sampling. The results showed that the working memory capacity of male students was greater than female students. The working memory capacity of first-year students was greater than the second and the third-year students. While there was no difference in students' mathematical anxiety seen from the difference in sex and grade. Based on multiple linear regression test, there was a significant negative effect of mathematics anxiety on mathematics achievement. This result illustrated that the higher mathematics anxiety the lower the mathematical achievement. The results of this study indicated that one importance factor to improve the mathematics achievement of mathematics undergraduate students, can be done by finding a strategy to reduced the level of mathematics anxiety.

Keywords

working memory capacity, mathematics anxiety, mathematics achievement, mathematics undergraduate students

Supporting Institution

DRPM KEMENRISTEKDIKTI (Directorate of Research and Community Service )

Project Number

193

Thanks

This article is one of the research results (Fundamental Research grant scheme) funded by DRPM. Therefore, the researchers would like to thank DRPM KEMENRISTEKDIKTI for funding this research and Unesa that have provided assisted. Thank you also goes to the reviewer who gave feedback and suggestions.

References

• Baddeley, A. D. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(11), 417-423.
• Baddeley A. (2003). Working memory: looking back and looking forward". Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4(10), 829–39.
• Baloglu, M., Zelhart, P. F. (2007) Psychometric Properties of The Revised Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale. The Psychological Record, 57, 593–611.
• Bayliss, D. M., Jarrold, C., Baddeley, A. D., Gunn, D. M., & Leigh, E. (2005). Mapping the Developmental Constraints on Working Memory Span Performance. Developmental Psychology, 41(4), 579-597.
• Budayasa, I. K., & Juniati, D. (2019). The Influence of Cognitive Style on Mathematical Communication of Prospective Math Teachers in Solving Problems. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1417). Institute of Physics Publishing.
• Conway, A. R., & Engle, R. W. (1996). Individual differences in working memory capacity: More evidence for a general capacity theory. Memory, 4(6), 577-590.
• Conway, A. R. A., Kane, M. J., Bunting, M.F., Hambrick, D.Z., Wilhelm, O., & Engle, R. W. (2005). Working memory span tasks: a methodological review and user’s guide. Psychon. Bull. Rev., 12, 769–786.
• Dada, O. A. & Akpan, S. M. (2019). Discriminant Analysis of Psycho-Social Predictors of Mathematics Achievement of Gifted Students in Nigeria, Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists, 7(3), 581-594.
• Daneman, M. & Carpenter, P. A. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 19(4), 450–66. Engle, R. W. (2002). Working memory capacity as executive attention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 19–23.
• Fennema, E., & Sherman, J. A., (1976). Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales: Instruments designed to measure attitudes toward the learning of mathematics by females and males. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 6, 31.
• Frisco-van den Bos, Sanne H. G. van der Ven, Evelyn H. Kroesbergen, & Johannes E. H. van Luit , (2013). Working memory and mathematics in primary school children: A meta-analysis, Educational Research Review, 10, 29-44.
• Gonthier, C., Aubry, A. & Béatrice Bourdin. (2018). Measuring working memory capacity in children using adaptive tasks: Example validation of an adaptive complex span, Behav. Res., 50, 910–921.
• Gürefe, N., Bakalım, O. (2018). Mathematics Anxiety, Perceived Mathematics Self-efficacy and Learned Helplessness in Mathematics in Faculty of Education Students, International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 10(3), 147-161
• Hertzog C, Dixon R.A., Hultsch D.F., MacDonald S.W. (2003). Latent change models of adult cognition: are changes in processing speed and working memory associated with changes in episodic memory?. Psychol Aging, 18 (4), 755–69.
• Hoffman, B. (2010). ‘I think I can, but I’m afraid to try’: The role of self-efficacy beliefs and mathematics anxiety in mathematics problem-solving efficiency. Learning and Individual Differences, 20, 276-283.
• Hunt, T. E., Bhardwa, J., & Sheffield, D. (2017). Mental arithmetic performance, physiological reactivity and mathematics anxiety among UK primary school children. Learning and Individual Differences, 57, 129–132.
• Juniati, D. & Budayasa, I K. (2017). Construction of learning strategies to combine culture elements and technology in teaching group theory. World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education, 15(3), 206-211.
• Juniati, D. & Budayasa, I K. (2017b). Developing experiment-based teaching materials of fractal geometry to upgrade students’ competencies. Cakrawala Pendidikan, 1, 24-33.
• Kurtoğlu, M. (2018). Determination of the relationship between emotional intelligence level and decision making strategies in gifted students. Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists, 6(1), 1-15.
• Korovkin S, Vladimirov I, Chistopolskaya A & Savinova A. (2018). How Working Memory Provides Representational Change During Insight Problem Solving. Front. Psychol. 9(1864), 1-16.
• Ma L, Chang L, Chen X, Zhou R (2017). Working memory test battery for young adults: Computerized working memory assessment. PLoS ONE, 12(3): e0175047, 1-19.
• Masooma Ali Al Mutawah (2015). The Influence of Mathematics Anxiety in Middle and High School Students Math Achievement. International Education Studies, 8(11), 239-252.
• McLeod, S. A. (2007). Multi store model of memory. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/multi-store.html
• Miller, G.A. (1994). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information. 1956. Psychological Review, 101(2), 343–52.
• Pantaleon, K. V., Juniati, D., & Lukito, A. (2018). The proving skill profile of prospective math teacher with high math ability and high math anxiety. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1097). Institute of Physics Publishing.
• Richardson, F.C., Suinn, R.M. (1972). The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 19(6), 551–554.
• Stone, J M and Towse, J N (2015) A Working Memory Test Battery: Java-Based Collection of Seven Working Memory Tasks. Journal of Open Research Software, 3(e5), 1-9.
• Wilhelm, O., Hildebrandt, A. & Oberauer, K. (2013). What is working memory capacity, and how can we measure it? Front Psychol., 4(433),1-22.
• Wu, S. S., Barth, M., Amin, H., Malcarne, V., & Menon, V. (2012). Math anxiety in second and third graders and its relation to mathematics achievement. Frontiers in Psychology, 3(162), 1-11.