OVERCOMING MATH ANXIETY USING ANIMATED VIDEO LESSON

An Undergraduate Thesis Presented to the Faculty of

Teacher Education Department

Bicol University Polangui Campus

Polangui, Albay

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Mathematics

Ocfemia, Camille Joy O.

Orogo, Jesel P.

October, 2020
 OVERCOMING MATH ANXIETY USING ANIMATED VIDEO LESSON

CHAPTER I – THE PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION

Anxiety the most well-known psychiatric disorder worldwide. It is the mind’s way

reacting to stress and extreme fear. Many people are experiencing anxiety and even

students also feel stress at some point. One of the specific problem of the students that

affects their mental health is the subject mathematics. Math anxiety defined by Tobias and

Weissbrod (1980) as “the panic, helplessness, paralysis, and mental disorganization that

arises among some people when they are required to solve a mathematical problem”. There

are common causes that explains why the students experience math anxiety such as the

pressure caused by the time limits on tests, the fear of public embarrassment and the

influence of teachers. According to H. Moriah Sokolowski and Daniel Ansari (2017), math

anxiety affects many people and is related to poor math ability in school and later during

adulthood. The fear of the students towards math may affect aspects like their academic

performance and social interaction.

The 21st century students are more into trends where in technology is present.

Instructional technology is the strategy used by the 21st century teachers. It is the process

of using technology for learning. This tool is very effect to use by the teachers to deliver

the lessons more engaging and effective. Video tutorial is one of the instructional

technology that are now using in classroom. It is applicable to distance learning and if a

student missed a lesson. It allows the students with different learning abilities to retain and

remember information. (Windermere, 1993)

 By looking at the causes of the math anxiety, the researchers came up with the idea

that video tutorials may serve as an alternative way of learning to the students who has

math anxiety. According to the Social Science Research Network, 65% of people are visual

learners, 30% are verbal learners and 5% are experiential. The majority are visual learners

and it is an advantage to use video lessons to the students. The word video tutorials are no

longer new to the people. These ideas lead the researchers to use the video tutorials with a

concept of animation to make the lesson more creative and engaging to overcome the math

anxiety of students.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The researcher focuses on the problem of the students which is the fear in

mathematics that affects their performance in the subject and this is called the “math

anxiety”. The study aims to find the answers to the following questions:

1. What are the demographic profile of the Grade 7 students?

2. What are the lessons can be developed to help the students?

3. What is the evaluation of the experts of the animated video lessons?

The researcher believes that the animated video lessons will be effective on

bringing the students from their anxiety to the healthy and new world of teaching

mathematics lessons. Knowing their demographic profiles, it will help teachers to realize

the cause and also, the needs of the students to overcome their anxiety. The most suitable

and effective animated video lessons will be also identified. The animated video lessons

will be evaluated by the experts to verify its effectiveness to the students. The researcher

is confident that these problems will make the students feel ready facing the world of
mathematics with a positive mind. The findings of this research will also be a big advantage

to the students who are doubting about their ability to understand the lessons not only in

mathematics but in other subjects too, it will serve as a guide to the teachers to cope up

with the difficulties of their students and also, to the future teachers.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

This study focuses on the effectiveness of the animated video lessons for Grade 7

students of Marcial O. Rañola Memorial School dealing with math anxiety. The study

covered the second quarter topics in mathematics of Grade 7 students as the lessons to be

used in making animated video lesson which will help the students overcome their math

anxiety. The researcher will make a lesson a plan and an animated video with the topic set

theory.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The students’ anxiety towards mathematics subject is a real problem this society

have. This research may prove useful to the following:

Students. This study will help the students to overcome their fears about solving math.

This will improve their learnings. They will know how to answer correctly and confidently

to every question. This study will help them to cope up with their solving abilities and

struggles in the mathematics subject.

Mathematics Teachers. This study will help the teachers to lessen their problem in

making the students understand the topic. This will help them to be more energetic and
motivated in teaching students. The more the understanding and active the students, the

less trouble for the teacher.

Parents. This study will help the parents know their children’s problem dealing in

mathematics. Parents will realize if what is missing in their child’s life and what they need

to do for guiding their children with this matter. This could be also improved the bond

between their parent-child relationship.

School Administrators and Supervisors. This will serve as a new idea for them to think

projects or activities for the improvement of this new generation in terms of learning

mathematics in fearless way and for the for the next generation as well.

Curriculum Planners. This study will help the planners to choose and think more

effective strategies and methods to fulfill the needs of the students in learning mathematics.

Community. This study will be a big help to the community to show that there is an

alternative way that bring every young minds to an equipped, motivated and better future.

Researchers Themselves. She will be guided by the findings in this study on how to deal

with the mathematics anxiety and this will also help her in engaging students with this kind

of problem in the future.

Future Researchers. This study might serve the future researchers in improving the

teaching strategies and new generations learning methods.

REFERENCES

Marshall, E., et al. (2016). Maths anxiety: A collaboration. HEA STEM conference,

Nottingham. p. 1.
Oxford Learning (2017). Retrieved from February (2017), from https://www.

Oxfordlearning.com/what-is-math-anxiety/

Sokolowski, H. M., and Ansari, D. (2017). Who is Afraid of Math? What is Math Anxiety?

And What can you do about it?. Christina Seix Academy. From

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00057

Daoud, D. (2020). What is Educational Technology?. Elearn2grow. From

https://www.elearn2grow.com/2020/04/14/what-is-educational-technology/

Windermer, A. (1993). What is the Importance of Video Tutorials to Students?. From

https://work.chron.com/importance-video-tutorials-students-16633.html