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While test anxiety has been studied extensively, little consideration has been given to the cultural impacts of children's experiences and expressions of test anxiety. The aim of this work was to examine whether variance in test anxiety scores can be predicted based on gender and cultural setting. Three hundred and ninety-eight pupils in Grade 3 in China, Finland, and Sweden, each of which has different testing realities, completed the Children's Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS). Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) results indicated that the Chinese sample scored more highly on the autonomic reactions component, whereas the Nordic sample scored higher on the off-task behaviors component. Significant interaction effects between gender and culture were also observed: The Nordic girls exhibited higher levels of autonomic reactions, but the opposite was seen in the Chinese sample, with boys reporting higher levels of the cognitive component. The conceptualization of test anxiety encompassing the off-task behaviors component does not appear to be universal for children. It is also suggested that gender differences vary as a function of culture.

This study aims to examine values in effective mathematics lessons in Sweden from the perspectives of students in different groups and their teachers. By using methods with lesson observations, student focus group interviews and teacher interviews, it shows that instructional explanation and classroom atmosphere with quietness are shared-values of students and their teachers. The findings propose some crucial issues which related to how mathematics teaching could be adjusted to different students’ learning conditions and whether it needs more instructional explanation in mathematics teaching in Sweden.

Error analysis is a basic and important task for mathematics teachers. Unfortunately, in the present literature there is a lack of detailed understanding about teacher knowledge as used in it. Based on a synthesis of the literature in error analysis, a framework for prescribing and assessing mathematics teacher knowledge in error analysis was formulated. The major constructs incorporated in this framework were the nature of mathematical error and the phrase of error analysis. The framework was validated through analysis of teachers' documents by two empirical examples.