Project Grant 2235588

This $299,947 project grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education, under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076), will fund a project at the University of Northern Colorado aiming to improve the mathematical dispositions of pre-service elementary teachers. Over a three-year period from May 2023 to April 2026, the university will implement four evidence-based interventions in math courses for elementary education majors, who often have feelings of math anxiety or avoidance. The interventions of expressive writing, focused breathing, cognitive reappraisal, and mindset/self-efficacy training will be studied through self-assessments and an innovative use of eye-tracking technology to measure their impact on students' math confidence, anxiety, sense of control over learning, and avoidance. Both baseline and experimental data will be collected and analyzed to provide evidence of the effectiveness of research-based interventions in positively shifting overall mathematical dispositions, with the goal of enhancing future elementary teachers' attitudes and behaviors toward math and its teaching.