Not realizing that you don't know: Fraction state anxiety is reduced by natural number bias

Abstract

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Research has shown that mathematics anxi-ety negatively correlates with primary school mathematics performance, including fraction knowledge. However, re-cently no significant correlation was found between fraction arithmetic performance and state anxiety measured after the fraction task. One possible explanation is the natural number bias (NNB), a tendency to apply natural number reasoning in fraction tasks, even when this is inappropriate. Students with the NNB may not realize they are answering incorrectly.<br></p><p><strong>Aims:</strong> The aim is to examine whether a misconception, namely the NNB, can influence students' fraction state anxiety.<br></p><p><strong>Sample:</strong> The participants were 119 fifth- and sixth-grade students categorized as belonging to an NNB group (<em>n </em>= 60) or a No-NNB group (<em>n</em> = 59), according to their NNB- related answering profile on a fraction arithmetic task.</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> Group differences were examined for state anxi-ety and performance on a fraction and a whole number arithmetic task and self-reported trait mathematics anxiety.Results: The NNB group reported lower fraction state anxiety than the No-NNB group, but there was no signifi-cant difference in trait mathematics anxiety. Furthermore, the NNB group reported lower fraction state anxiety than whole number state anxiety, while the opposite was true for the No-NNB group.</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The present study suggests that students' per-ceptions of their own performance influence their state anx-iety responses, and students with a NNB may not be aware of their misconception and poor performance. Not taking into account qualitative differences in low performance, such as misconceptions, may lead to misinterpretations in state anxiety-performance relations.</p>