This study explored the relationship between mathematical competency (mathematics training received in college) and mathematics computer specialists use on the job. The study was developed based upon an hypothesis that many computer occupations have formal academic requirements for admission and advancement which have an unclear relationship to…

Survey instruments were mailed to all of Maine's secondary school principals and mathematics teachers. The purpose of these instruments was to: (1) measure the status quo of mathematics education in Maine's secondary shools; (2) measure the background and interests of Maine's mathematics teachers; and (3) obtain an indication of the graduate…

This study explored the relationship between students' high school mathematics courses and grades; the affective variables--mathematics anxiety, effectance motivation, and attitude toward success; and performance in the first quarter developmental studies algebra course. The study reports significant differences between males and females on…

A study was conducted at a large suburban community college in Northern Illinois to examine the nature of the relationship between student self-perception/attitude variables and final course grades in four levels of mathematics: elementary algebra, intermediate algebra, college algebra, and technical mathematics. Findings, based on data obtained…

This document argues that qualitative graphing is an effective introduction to mathematics as a construction for communication of ideas involving quantitative relationships. It is suggested that with little or no prior knowledge of Cartesian coordinates or analytic descriptions of graphs using equations students can successfully grasp concepts of…

The purpose of this study was to determine social processes of sex differentiation for undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics and how those processes relate to educational inequity. To gather data relevant to those processes, 168 in-depth interviews were conducted with male and female students majoring in mathematics and with faculty…

Studies of methods of teaching statistics are reported. Three brief texts were written for the investigations; they varied in degree of explanation of basic concepts of elementary probability. Subjects were undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. None of the subjects had had previous formal exposure to probability or…

The contributions of acceptance of misconceptions about mathematics, mathematical self-concept, and arithmetic skills to mathematics anxiety and to statistics course performance were studied in 92 adult students aged 18 to 57 with a median age of 27, (16 males and 76 females). Results showed that acceptance of misconceptions and mathematical…

The study was designed to investigate: (1) the relative effectiveness of three techniques for teaching verbal problem solving to general education mathematics students in a junior college; and (2) the relationships between various student variables and problem-solving ability after treatment. Three classes (N=72) at Florida College were randomly…

Presented is a study which investigated the relationship of mathematics anxiety to mathematics attitudes and mathematics achievement for 62 high math-anxious female college freshmen. Subjects were given the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Inventory, including a mathematics anxiety scale, and a mathematics achievement test. High math-anxious…

The Statistical Analysis System (SAS) is presented as the single most appropriate statistical package to use as an aid in teaching statistics. A brief review of literature in which SAS is compared to SPSS, BMDP, and other packages is followed by six examples which demonstrate features unique to SAS which have pedagogical utility. Of particular…

This study looks at the correlates of mathematics anxiety in female college freshmen through an examination of the following: (1) the correlation between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement; (2) the correlation between anxiety and attitudes; (3) the correlation between the number of mathematics courses taken in high school and anxiety;…

Thirty-six prospective elementary education teachers were randomly assigned to three instructional moves: a characterization-exemplification with declarative statements (CED), a characterization-exemplification with interrogative statements (CEI), and an exemplification (E). The purposes of the study were to: (1) examine the efforts of the three…

A 30-item survey was developed to assess several dimensions of attitudes about calculators. Reliability and validity data were gathered on students in a college statistics course. Based on N = 135, coefficient alpha was .874. Factor analyses identified 3 interpretable factors: trustworthiness of calculators, usefulness, and educational value.…

A 40-item questionnaire designed to investigate the variety and scope of developmental mathematics courses (DMC) offered at colleges and universities throughout the United States was administered to a selected sample of two- and four-year colleges in October 1974. The 104 respondents represented 21 states. Most (58%) of the colleges responding…