Middle school mathematics teachers often do not emphasise statistics and geometry in their lesson plans for a variety of reasons. However, these are integral topics in mathematics, and using direct lecture or hands-on activities may have different effects on teacher confidence when approaching these subjects. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, anxiety was found to improve with lecture-based workshops, while confidence and effectance was found to improve with manipulatives-based workshops. The results showed some surprising and unsurprising reasons for these conclusions.