Do numerical mind and intelligence games reduce mathematics teaching anxiety Evidence from pre-service primary teachers

While existing literature focuses on pre-service teachers' opinions, there is a lack of experimental research on the effectiveness of numerical mind and intelligence games. This study aims to investigate the impact of numerical mind and intelligence games on pre-service teachers' arithmetic and higher-order thinking skills, while also addressing their mathematics teaching anxiety. This study examined the effect of numerical mind and intelligence games training on the mathematics teaching competencies and anxieties of 34 third-grade pre-service primary school teachers. The explanatory design of the mixed method was utilized, with the quantitative part employing a pre- and post-test experimental design without a control group, and the qualitative part utilizing a case study. The study utilized a mathematics teaching competency scale, an anxiety scale, and a semi-structured interview tool. Numerical mind and intelligence games training reduced pre-service primary school teachers' anxiety about teaching mathematics, which is a sub-dimension of their mathematics teaching anxiety, but did not change their anxiety about mathematics self-efficacy and subject knowledge. In addition, it has been determined that numerical mind and intelligence games training does not change pre-service primary school teachers' mathematics teaching competence. To increase pre-service primary school teachers' self-efficacy in teaching mathematics and reduce their anxiety, numerical mind and intelligence games can be introduced at the beginner level, and the difficulty level of the numerical mind and intelligence games can be increased according to the pre-service primary school teachers' levels. The effects of the study, which investigated the impact on pre-service teachers' mathematics teaching self-efficacy and anxieties, on their mathematics teaching motivation and attitudes can be investigated.