Abstract
The requirement to adapt to change is well known to be a cause of increased anxieties in many students, and three major educational changes are in progress currently in schools in Queensland, Australia: namely, the advent of the extensive use of technology; the change in the Queensland transition year from primary to high school; and the introduction of the national Australian Curriculum. Mathematics anxiety has been with us for generations and, despite the best efforts of classroom innovators, a sizeable number of our students still suffer from it. ‘By ignoring the powerful role that anxiety plays in mathematical situations, we are overlooking an important piece of the equation in terms of understanding how people learn and perform mathematics’ (Maloney & Beilock, 2012, p. 405). This chapter discusses specifically Information and Communication Technology (ICT) educational issues relating to the first two of these changes, while the third underpins the conversation. While examples from a local perspective are used, the issues discussed and the innovative ideas suggested are much more general and should be useful to a much wider audience.
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© 2015 Nicholas Flegg
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Flegg, N. (2015). Discussion of Innovative Ideas to Address Mathematics Anxiety and Technology Issues for Students Transitioning to High School. In: Redmond, P., Lock, J., Danaher, P.A. (eds) Educational Innovations and Contemporary Technologies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137468611_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137468611_4
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