Investigated the effects of assertive training on measures of assertiveness, state anxiety, and mathematics performance in highly anxious ninth graders (N=96). Found that assertive training resulted in increased assertiveness and decreased state anxiety, with no significant effect on mathematics performance, and no significant effect due to sex.…

A discussion of programs and techniques used to deal with student difficulties in learning math and science highlights the efforts of the Claremont Colleges, the College of St. Catherine, Gustavus Adolphus College, Iona College, Mississippi State University, and Stetson University. (MSE)

This paper presents a method of assessing math anxiety based on self-reported descriptors used to evaluate various personality traits in college students. A secondary purpose of the paper is to report the results of applying such an inventory to a group of college mathematics students. (PK)

Secondary teachers in a workshop on overcoming computer and math anxiety and students in a programming course were given measures of anxiety and achievement. Low mathematical ability and coursework were related to math and computer anxiety and negative attitudes. Attitudes improved for the teachers but not the students. (MNS)

Examined how preservice elementary teachers' (N=38) mathematical knowledge and mathematics anxiety affect their success in a mathematics methods course. Also examined the hypothesis that a mathematics methods course can reduce the mathematics anxiety of these teachers. One finding is that mathematics anxiety does not inhibit their learning of…

A herediscope is a device used to teach genetics while overcoming students' fears of the mathematical aspects of the subject. The herediscope can be constructed from cardboard or heavy paper by individual students. Qualitative inheritance, sex inheritance, random assortment, and population genetics are among the topics taught using the device. (JN)

Data on the mathematics attitudes and achievement of fourth through sixth grade students were considered in relation to sex of student, grade level, type of achievement test, and time during the school year at which the measurements were taken. (Author/CJ)

Groups of adolescent, math-anxious girls were either tutored in mathematics, tutored with self-instruction to reduce anxiety, or received no treatment. Tutoring and self-instruction resulted in increased ranked preferences for math, while math achievement increased more for the self-instruction group. (Author/GK)

An overview of the status of female participation in mathematics is given. Special attention is paid to the evidence that participation in mathematics courses in high school acts as a filter for occupational choice. (MK)

Six features of a traditional mathematics curriculum that help establish math avoidance are discussed. Math avoidance is viewed as a natural reaction to so much of the experience of the student in situations euphemistically described as the learning of mathematics. (Author/MK)

Women tend to subscribe to a belief that they are less inclined than males to handle numbers, logic, or problem-solving tasks. Upward mobility in occupations is seen to be dependent on math. A list of math anxiety, math avoidance, and math reentry programs given around the country is provided. (MLW)

Reviewing research relating mathematical achievement to gender, the authors argue that remedies for math anxiety need to be evaluated and new techniques devised that are most closely linked to theories of learning. They maintain that proper techniques can be effective in reversing female underachievement and preventing math avoidance. (Author/SK)

Analyzes students' productions, taking affective and social factors into account. Uses the technique of virtual monologue to reproduce the student's voice in order to describe as vividly as possible what might be going on in the student's mind during such situations. (AIM)

Until age 11 or 12 children haven't reached the stage of abstract reasoning, therefore explanations of math concepts need a concrete, hands-on focus. Several learning activities, rooted in real life situations, are suggested to parents to help children understand math concepts; thereby easing anxiety and promoting enjoyment of math. (IAH)

Among 852 Finnish high school students (20% academic, 80% vocational), those whose math study orientation style was confidence had higher math achievement. Those whose style was coping or anxiety tended toward lower achievement. Electrical engineering and business students were most confident, academic and handicrafts students least. (SK)