The pre-service teachers’ mathematics anxiety related to depth of negative experiences in mathematics classroom while they were students Mehmet Bekdemir # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract One of the aims of this study is to examine whether the worst experiences and most troublesome mathematics classroom experience affect mathematics anxiety in pre- service elementary teachers. Another goal is to find out how the causes of their anxiety relate to these negative experiences. The participants were 167 senior elementary pre- service teachers. Three different instruments were used to collect data; Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale, Worst Experience and Most Troublesome Mathematics Classroom Experience Reflection Test, and Interview Protocol. The findings show that many pre- service teachers have mathematics anxiety and that the worst experience and the most troublesome mathematics classroom experience have a direct influence on mathematics anxiety in pre-service teachers. Also, the majority of instances of participants’ mathematics anxiety are caused by the teachers, their behavior or teaching approaches in their past. Keywords Mathematics anxiety . Pre-service teachers . Worst experiences and most troublesome mathematics classroom experience 1 Introduction If you are a mathematics teacher, you will hear negative expressions from many people such as “I see nightmares even when I hear the name of mathematics” or “Mathematics has always been a lesson that frightened me with its name and put me in a difficult position throughout my entire education life.” There are many events that make these people think negatively and helplessly. One of the most important facts among these is mathematics anxiety. Although mathematics anxiety is a special type of general anxiety which comes out in special occasions (Brady & Bowd, 2005), it is a sophisticated and multi-dimensional phenomenon. Various scientists have been trying to understand this phenomenon for the last 30 years (Tooke & Leonard, 1998; Trujillo & Hadfield, 1999). Some of the descriptions DOI 10.1007/s10649-010-9260-7 M. Bekdemir (*) Elementary Education Department, Erzincan University, 24030 Erzincan, Turkey e-mail: mbekdemir@erzincan.edu.tr e-mail: mehmetbekdemir@hotmail.com Educ Stud Math (2010) 75:311–328 Published online: 28 August 2010