Addressing early childhood teachers’ math anxiety with literacy-themed mathematics instruction

Mathematics anxiety among early childhood teacher candidates is well documented and can negatively affect instructional quality and student outcomes. This mixed methods case study examined how literacy-themed mathematics instruction impacted math anxiety in early childhood and early childhood special education teacher candidates enrolled in two university teacher education courses. Participants completed a module in which they created original mathematics storybooks, developed lesson plans, and taught those lessons with children. Participants also completed an adapted 17-item Teacher Mathematics Anxiety Scale (TMAS) before and after the module. Overall, mean anxiety scores decreased from pre- to post-survey, though there was variation across individuals and subscales. Teaching anxiety showed the greatest decrease, while Emotionality and Worry showed minimal change, suggesting this approach may be more effective in building instructional confidence than in broadly reducing personal mathematics anxiety. Findings suggest literacy-themed mathematics instruction may be a promising approach for early childhood teacher education programs and can benefit from additional study with more participants.