This paper is based on the on-going research, work, and teaching carried out in the Mathematics Foundations Course (MFC) at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Teaching is a very intimate and rewarding experience for the mathematics lecturer as well as for the adult student. Mathematics lecturers and adults should be challenged by their…

This paper describes a framework for making sense of the relationship between emotions, cognition, mathematical activity, and mathematical beliefs. Subjects were participants in a special mathematics anxiety program. Beliefs are classified as instrumental and relational approaches to a situation. Emotion is also distinguished as a two-faceted…

This study was designed to investigate mathematics performance as a function of anxiety, with examination for a relationship between mathematics and test anxiety and any sex differences on mathematics anxiety. The effects of evaluative stress on high and low mathematically anxious subjects was examined, and preliminary effort was made to…

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether teaching strategies designed to help pupils build positive and realistic self concepts would have effects upon attitudes, anxiety, and achievement in mathematics. The population consisted of 60 students who had registered for a Survey of Mathematics course at Winward Community College…

The role of affect in course enrollment decisions and achievement are examined. First, sex differences in the affective reactions believed to mediate student's course enrollment decisions are examined for magnitude and consistency. Then, to gain a better sense of their relative influence in the achievement process, the importance of these…

This study indicates that eighth graders have higher mathematics anxiety than eleventh graders, and boys have higher mathematics anxiety than girls. Eighth-grade classes with high mathematics anxiety tend to have high motivation in mathematics, but tend to see mathematics as not very useful in society. Both grade levels show a positive…

This study investigated 36 mathematics classroom environments that a priori appeared to hold promise as being motivationally effective. Classroom environments from fifth grade through graduate school were selected (N=598 students). In particular, the study measured students' perceived situational interest in the learning environment, individual…

The present demand for quantitative proficiency makes low mathematics achievement not only a formidable obstacle in occupational aspirations but also in the academic arena. To modify the current understanding of the problem of mathematics anxiety and to develop an effective treatment program, college students (12 subjects per group; 8 females, 4…

For many students the present remedial mathematics curriculum is a collection of loosely related, very difficult to understand topics, and many, in consequence, lack the motivation to persist in remedial math courses. Most alternative instructional methods used in these courses fail to convey a sense of the underlying purpose of mathematics and…

This paper is based on the on-going research work and teaching carried out in the Mathematics Foundations Course (MFC) at Goldsmiths College, University of London. It is argued that teaching adult students mathematical investigation has given insight into the way they learn mathematics better and removes the barriers of mathematics phobia. It…

This investigation traced changes in anxiety for teaching mathematics (ATM) among pre-service elementary school teachers (n=36) enrolled in a mathematics methods course by analyzing their weekly journal entries. Journal entries were coded for high level of ATM (ATM-high) or absence of ATM (ATM-absent) during the first class session, as well as…

An experience in attempting to transform research into practice is described, with questions raised about the relationship between research and practice. The author begins by describing the two research traditions which exerted the most force on the design of the program. How the philosophy and findings of those traditions were interpreted and…

This study addresses three questions: (1) whether sex is related to ability and interest in computers; (2) whether a relationship exists between the presence of a computer in the home and a child's ability and interest in computing; and (3) the combination of factors that account for students' perceptions of success in developing programming…

A chronology of the development of a mathematics anxiety scale is given. Included are a model describing six facets of mathematics anxiety and the eighteen items used on the anxiety scale. Stability and internal consistency measures are reported, and the scale is correlated with measures of mathematical confidence and general anxiety towards…

In the attempt to account for striking differences between learning activities of immigrant mathematics students from the former Soviet Union and of their native Israeli classmates, the authors introduce the notions of "actual" and "designated identities." These identities are subsequently presented as important factors that…