This study reports that artistic and social vocational-personality characteristics are associated with greater anxiety and less involvement or success in mathematics and computer courses. A concept of population variability in computer anxiety which is associated with individual differences in vocational personality is supported. (MVL)

Integrates research on mathematics anxiety, regarding its nature, effects, and relief by using meta-analysis. Concludes that mathematics anxiety depresses performance and that mathematics and test anxieties both relate to general anxiety. Discusses the sex difference of the anxiety and its effects on achievement. (Author/YP)

Discussion of equity in computer science education focuses on issues related to gender. Topics discussed include computers and society, including employment changes and the relationship of women to society; the relationship between mathematics anxiety and computer anxiety; instructional and curriculum design; evaluation equity; and computer…

Five steps designed to take anxiety out of statistics for social work students are outlined. First, statistics anxiety is identified as an educational problem. Second, instructional objectives and procedures to achieve them are presented and methods and tools for evaluating the course are explored. Strategies for, and obstacles to, making…

A study of 163 undergraduate social work students and 256 nonsocial work students found the social work majors had much higher levels of math anxiety than a cross-section of students enrolled in introductory statistics courses and were found to have taken fewer math courses in high school and college. (Author/MSE)

This study, with 103 nongifted students and 77 female and 76 male gifted students in grades 3, 6, and 9, found that gifted females evidenced self-defeating causal attributions for math performance relative to gifted males only in grade 9. For the nongifted subjects, the sex differences were not as pronounced. (DB)

Describes a summer mathematics inservice workshop for 39 elementary teachers from rural, small schools throughout New Mexico. Focused on minority participation, hands-on activities, and improvement of attitude towards the teaching of mathematics. Posttests revealed improvement in knowledge of manipulative use, confidence in use of manipulatives,…

Reports on a study of the association between computer anxiety and measures of positive and negative affect when using computerized vs. standard administration. Gender differences across the two modes of administration were assessed. Measures of state, trait, and mathematics anxiety were obtained to clarify the association between computer anxiety…

The attitudes about mathematics held by girls and boys participating in a regional mathematics contest, their parents, teachers, and mathematics coaches were investigated. Quantitative data regarding mathematics as a male domain, perception of importance of mathematics, confidence in learning mathematics, effectance motivation, and usefulness of…

This study deals with the demand of a task. A theoretical background shows the difficulty of applying the idea of demand (as established in the literature) to the data. This has been confirmed in the preliminary study of this paper, which deals with the analysis of university examinations. Some factors that affect the demand of a task have been…

A new method of analyzing mathematics attitudes through symbolic drawings, situated within the field of Jungian-oriented analytical psychology, was applied to 52 preservice elementary teachers before and after a mathematics methods course. In this triangulation mixed methods design study, pretest images related to past mathematics experiences…

The attitudes toward mathematics of a large cross-sectional sample of students in grades 6 through 12 were explored. Most previous studies have not used samples as large as the 623 urban public school students in the southern United States, included in this study. The sample included 55.1 percent females, 58.3 percent Whites, 27.6 percent African…

Nursing educators and administrators are concerned about medication errors made by students which jeopardize patient safety. The inability to conceptualize and calculate medication dosages, often related to math anxiety, is implicated in such errors. A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program is seen as a viable method of allowing students to…

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…

In this paper, emphasis is placed on examining the issue of sex differences from a historical perspective, within a framework focused on socialization factors, and within a more psychological framework that examines how society's beliefs and expectations are reflected in personal beliefs that may affect functioning. Biographical details about…