The STAR Reflective Growth Cycle

Mathematics anxiety and limited understanding of fractions remain persistent challenges in elementary teacher education, often constraining conceptual learning and instructional confidence. Addressing these challenges requires learning frameworks that integrate cognitive, affective, and reflective processes. This study examines the relationships among growth mindset, mathematics anxiety, and fraction numeracy within the framework of the STAR Reflective Growth Cycle, an integrative reflective learning framework for pre-service elementary teachers. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed involving 71 pre-service teachers. Quantitative data were collected using a growth mindset scale, a mathematics anxiety scale, and a fraction numeracy test. Qualitative data were obtained through structured self-assessment reflections aligned with the four-STAR phases: self-awareness, take action, analysis and self-assessment, and rise and growth. The results indicate that a growth mindset is positively associated with fraction numeracy and negatively associated with mathematics anxiety. Regression analysis further shows that a growth mindset significantly predicts fraction numeracy performance, accounting for 35.9% of the variance. These relationships should be interpreted as associative rather than causal, consistent with the correlational design of the study. Qualitative findings reveal a gradual shift from anxiety and avoidance toward reflective persistence, strategic engagement, and increased confidence across the STAR phases. These findings provide interpretive insight into participants’ experiences rather than evidence of causal impact. Overall, the findings suggest the potential relevance of structured reflective learning frameworks that integrate belief, emotion, and self-assessment in understanding numeracy development within elementary teacher education.

Elementary mathematics · Fraction (chemistry) · Mathematical anxiety · Mindset · Number sense · Numeracy · Qualitative property · Qualitative research · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness · Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation · Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques