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ESSENTIAL METHODS OF MATH ANXIETY REGULATION // Pedagogical Review. 2021. Issue 2 (36). P. 189-198

Math anxiety (MA) is a feeling of fear, worry and discomfort when working with numerical information. Students with a high level of math anxiety tend to avoid mathematics and further study in areas where mathematical knowledge is required. This leads to a shortage of applicants for technical and natural sciences. The development of MA can be caused by: poor mathematical skills, genetic predisposition, socio-environmental factors. In fact, some of the same genetic and environmental reasons affect both math ability and math anxiety. This paper discusses such methods of MA regulation as: expressive writing, reappraisal, relaxation, meditation, mindfulness, art therapy, bibliography, music therapy, and psychophysiological methods (i.e. transcranial stimulation). The effects obtained by these methods, its implementation, as well as potential applications in terms of their effectiveness and reliability have been covered. The studied methods have practically not been tested on Russian samples. Therefore, their further study and experimental verification are required. Regulation methods also require testing in real conditions of the educational process. The new reality of blended and online learning could trigger math and academic anxiety. It is important that some of the proposed methods can be indirectly applied to other types of “academic anxiety” (anxiety caused and experienced by students for other specific discipline).

Keywords: math anxiety, STEM, methods of reregulation