The authors explored test-preparation and test-taking strategies that high school students used in algebra tests. From a pool of high school students (N = 156), 61 students participated in interviews, and of those interviewed, 26 represented those who were high achieving as well as highly interested in mathematics (n = 15) vs. those who were low…

Students that have high mathematics anxiety also have negative attitudes toward their potential success in mathematics. The focus of this paper is on changing attitudes towards mathematics, particularly those of arts majors. Suggestions for changing attitudes come out of an understanding of differing learning styles among students. Individuals…

Milwaukee Area Technical College's (MATC's) responses to the need for developmental mathematics instruction are reviewed in this paper. The paper begins by briefly describing a project which MATC undertook in 1965 through 1970 to develop technical mathematics materials and courses which were relevant for technicians and matched the entry-level…

This paper, presented at the 1979 meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), investigates the affective characteristics of 120 junior high school students who participated in one or both of the first two programs of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Project (MTYMP). The first year program of 1976-77 was in algebra I and…

Reviews recent research findings related to sex differences in math and science achievement. Specifically discusses results which point to an apparent decline of math anxiety. (ML)

Discusses the importance of mathematical skills in the workplace and the relationship between math anxiety and course completion rates. Describes a study evaluating the effectiveness of integrating motivational techniques and assessment practices into a developmental math course at a Texas university. Finds that the techniques enhanced student…

Described is a nonmajor mathematics course taught using computers and lab experiments. Included are the challenge, solution, description of the first class, problems, successes, the syllabus, student comments, and the conclusion. (KR)

Research suggests that computer anxiety and computer experience are related. Some relationship between age and gender and computer anxiety has been suggested but not sufficiently examined. Other relationships have been explored with little result, and little is known about mediating computer anxiety. A model of the development of computer anxiety…

Basic algebra at Robert Morris College (RMC) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a remedial course for students with virtually no algebra background, and for students whose previous experiences with algebra have created math blocks and math anxiety. A study was conducted in an effort to measure quantitatively the benefits of using linguistic methods…

Investigated the association of field-dependent/independent cognitive style with mathematics anxiety, using mathematics scores of 481 secondary students. Indicated that field-dependent learners experienced more mathematics anxiety than did field-independent learners. Found significant interactions between sex and cognitive style and between…

Describes studies involving students sponsored by A Better Chance, Inc. (ABC), a nonprofit search and referral service that identifies and places talented minority inner-city children. Results indicate that standardized tests do not necessarily predict ABC student success, and that ABC students can be productively directed toward mathematics and…

This report and a motivation seminar were prepared for teachers in the Social Sciences Department at Champlain Regional College (Quebec) to study motivational dispositions of students who either avoided registering for a course in Quantitative Methods or failed out in important numbers. Teachers' consensus was that students in general seemed to…

The purpose of this study was to investigate some variables that relate to students' anxiety in learning statistics. The variables included sex, class level, students' achievement, school, mathematical background, previous statistics courses, and race. The instrument used was the 24-item Students' Attitudes Toward Statistics (STATS), which was…

This study was planned (1) to identify factors, both social and academic, associated with the gender-role and self-concept perceptions of seventh and eighth grade adolescent girls relative to their participation in science; and (2) to determine the relationship of these emerging concepts of self to the attitudes and achievement of these girls…

This study focused on anxiety, both math and situational, and its relationship to teaching performance. Preservice elementary teachers were given a methods course on teaching mathematics and, after five weeks, were assigned a group of children to instruct twice a week. A positive correlation was found between performance in teaching math and…