1. Educational games and their
impact on mathematics
anxiety in University social
science students

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Contents
• Background
• Literature Review
• Methodology
• Pre-pilot study results
• Studying part time

3. Background
The researcher and the study

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Background - the researcher
• BA in Business Management and Information
Management (UOS – Mgt & iSchool)
• MSC in Information Systems, dissertation on
conceptual mini-games (UOS - iSchool)
• PhD (part time) – Educational Games and
mathematics anxiety (also at UOS - iSchool).

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Background –the study
• Mathematics anxiety defined as: “feelings of tension
and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of
numbers and the solving of mathematical problems
in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic
situations” (Richardson and Suinn, 1972)

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Background – the study
• Around 60% of students show symptoms of
mathematics anxiety (Bradshaw, 2013)
• Mathematics anxiety affects all students
regardless of discipline (Fortin, et.al., 2013)
• Only 56% interested in studying mathematics at
all (Bradshaw, 2013)

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Background –the study
• Aims
• To discover if educational computer games can reduce maths
anxiety amongst UOS students.
• Objectives
• Identify maths anxiety scales and computer games to use for
data collection.
• Identify extent to which mathematics anxiety is a problem
amongst UOS social science students.
• To identify the attributes of a game that may reduce or increase
maths anxiety.

8. Literature Review
Symptoms /causes of mathematics anxiety,
measuring mathematics anxiety, potential of
educational games

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Literature Review
• Symptoms include, panic, paranoia, lack of
confidence, passive behaviour (Chandran (2015)
• Caused by:
• Poor teaching/bad experience in class. (Usop, et al.,
2009)
• Lack of support from parents (Silva et al. 2006)
• Comparing progress with friends (Smith, 2004)

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Literature Review
• Systematic literature review revealed range of
scales for measuring mathematics anxiety
• Criteria included:
• Confirmed reliability and validity
• English Language
• Suitable for University age students
• 30-item, MARS-S (brief version) (Suinn & Whiston,
2003) to be used for study.

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Literature Review
Some example scale questions
• “Thinking about an upcoming maths test one week
before”.
• “Dividing a five digit number by a two digit number in
private with pencil and paper.”
• “Realizing that you have to take a certain number of
maths classes to fulfil the requirements in your
course”
• “Reading a cash register receipt after your purchase”

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Literature Review
• Educational games defined as: “(1) a game that
teaches a certain subject, concept or topic, (2) a
game that furthers one’s intellectual pursuit in
an area or discipline (3) a game that assists
people in learning a mental skill as they play the
game” (Nah et al., 2012)

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Literature Review
• Educational computer games known to increase
motivation to learn (Erhel & Jamet, 2013)
• Little known on how they affect mathematics
anxiety (which reduces motivation to learn) (M.
F. Young et al., 2012; Zakaria & Nordin, 2008)
• Study on primary school children found
reduction in maths anxiety (results non-
significant) (Núñez Castellar,et al., 2014)

14. Methodology
Filling the gap in the literature -
Participants, methods, finding games to use

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Methodology
• Based on existing literature on mathematics anxiety
studies
• But mixed methods, also includes qualitative
interviews and observations to identify particular
aspects on games that affect mathematics anxiety
• Participants to be UOS social science students
• MASH (2016) study found social science students to have the
highest level of the mathematics anxiety of all faculties.
• More accessible.

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Methodology
• Measure mathematics anxiety of participants using
MARS-Brief Scale.
• Experimental group play game alongside course.
Control group study as normal.
• Sample of experimental group take part in the
interviews and observations.
• To identify what aspects of the game that affected
mathematics anxiety the most.
• All participants retake MARS scale

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Methodology
• Which game to use?
• Wide variety of games used in mathematics anxiety
studies
• Xbox Kinect, browser based games, PC games,
(Verkijika & De Wet, 2014; Isbister et al., 2012; Jansen
et al., 2013)
• Different mathematics topics, different
stories/themes

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Methodology
• Criteria for games for inclusion.:
• Browser based game
• Mini-game
• Suitable for University age students.
• Three games found that met criteria.
• Algebra Meltdown, Giving Change, Ordering Fractions

19. Algebra Meltdown
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20. Giving Change
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21. Ordering Fractions
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22. Pre-pilot study
Exploratory study to determine which game
to use for pilot and main study.

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Pre-pilot study
• Conducted a pre-pilot study to determine which
game to use
• 5 students from iSchool observed playing all 3 games
to identify usability issues (facial
reactions/keystrokes/think aloud data recorded)
• Participants interviewed to determine which game
they liked the most, usability perspective.

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Pre-pilot study
• Observation data recorded using Morae Recorder
• Analyzed using Morae Manager
• Giving Change and Fractions easiest games to play, Algebra
Meltdown confusing in places (confusing interface)
• Interviews recorded using NVivo.
• Interviews revealed just one participant enjoyed
playing Fractions game
• No story, repetitive, no atmosphere, not engaging

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Pre-pilot study
• Algebra Meltdown and Giving Change favored…
• Algebra Meltdown
• Engaging context, storyline, distinctive appearance of
characters, sound and graphics.
• Giving Change
• More relatable story (i.e. shopping), ease of use, having no
timer, and short but useful feedback.
• Similar research to be conducted for pilot study to
determine which single game to use for main study

26. Studying part time
Advantages and disadvantages

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Studying part time
• Disadvantages
• Working part time, a distraction from study
• Could miss deadlines, academic networking
opportunities.
• Hard to find funding for part time study.
• Self funded, money from your own pocket.
• Very challenging, juggling time

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Studying part time
• Advantages
• Improve time management.
• Work part time, earn extra cash.
• Potentially save money on fees
• Gain other skills (that look good on CV)
• Supportive staff, more flexibility

29. Thanks for
listening!
Any Questions?

30. References
1. BDA. (2016). Dyscalculia. Retrieved from
http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexic/dyscalculia
2. Bradshaw, J. (2013). United Kingdom - Country Note - Results From PISA 2012. Retrieved
from http://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/PISA-2012-results-UK.pdf
3. Chandran, P. (2015). The fear of all sums: how teachers can help students with maths
anxiety. The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-
network/2015/nov/17/how-teachers-help-students-maths-anxiety
4. Cottee, M., Relph, A., & Robins, K. (2013). Supporting students making the transition from
school to university–a national and local view of the maths skills crisis in the uk.
EDULEARN13 proceedings, 6431-6440.
5. Cruise, R. J., Cash, R. W., & Bolton, D. L. (1985). Development and validation of an
instrument to measure statistical anxiety. Proceedings of the American Statistical
Association, Section on Statistical Education, Las Vegas, NV.
6. Fortin, L., Marcotte, D., Diallo, T., Potvin, P., & Royer, É. (2013). A multidimensional model
of school dropout from an 8-year longitudinal study in a general high school population.
European journal of psychology of education, 28(2), 563-583

31. References
7. Nah, F., Zhou, Y., & Boey, A. (2012). User Engagement in Educational Computer Gaming.
SIGHCI 2012 Proceedings, Paper 4.
8. NHS. (2015, 25/02/2014). Generalised anxiety disorder in adults. Retrieved from
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Anxiety/Pages/Introduction.aspx
9. Ramirez, G., Gunderson, E. A., Levine, S. C., & Beilock, S. L. (2013). Math anxiety, working
memory, and math achievement in early elementary school. Journal of Cognition and
Development, 14(2), 187-202.
10. Richardson, F. C., & Suinn, R. M. (1972). The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale:
Psychometric data. Journal of counseling Psychology, 19(6), 551.
11. Silva, D. L., Tadeo, M. C., Reyes, C., & Dadigan, R. M. (2006). Factors associated with non-
performing Filipino students in Mathematics: A vision of student’s cognitive and behavior
management. Paper presented at the the Proceedings of the 2nd IMT-GT Regional
Conference of Mathematics, Statistics and Applications, University Sains Malaysia,
Penang.
12. Smith, M. R. (2004). Math Anxiety: Causes, Effects, and Preventative Measures. Senior
Thesis, Liberty University, Virginia, United States
13. Usop, H. H., Sam, H. K., Sabri, N. A. a., & Wah, T. K. (2009). Factors causing mathematics
anxiety among undergraduate students. In Proceedings of CoSMEd 2009: Third
International Conference on Science and Mathematics Education.