The effectiveness of cognitive restructuring techniques to reduce mathematics anxiety in high school students

Mathematics is an important element in life. It is even said that all activities or things that exist in our daily life require mathematics in it. However, mathematics is often considered a difficult subject for students because the characteristics of mathematics are abstract, logical, systematic and full of symbols and confusing formulas. Students often feel frustrated and raise anxiety about mathematics. Cognitive restructuring techniques can be used to reduce anxiety by changing irrational and non-adaptive views into rational and adaptive ones. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effectiveness of cognitive restructuring techniques to reduce anxiety in high school mathematics subjects. The hypothesis of this research; cognitive restructuring technique is an effective to reduce anxiety about mathematics in high school students. The research was conducted using a quasi-experiment one-group pretest- posttest design. Anxiety towards mathematics was measured using the Anxiety Scale Against Mathematics (ASAM) developed by the researcher. The total subjects used in this study were 6 students. For each subject, the cognitive restructuring technique was carried out for 3 sessions, each session lasting 1-1.5 hours. Based on the results of the study, it was found that p(0.028)<0.05 so it can be concluded that cognitive restructuring techniques are effective for reducing anxiety about mathematics in high school students.