Increasing Enrollment in Higher-Level Mathematics Classes through the Affective Domain
Judy Blum-Anderson December 1992 School Science and Mathematics v. 92 n.8 p433-436
This paper asserts that students are disinclined to enroll in math courses for affective reasons. The main factors are "(a) lack of awareness of the increased educational and occupational opportunities that the study of higher-level mathematics can bring and (b) individual belief systems that have caused these students to characterize themselves as not mathematically inclined." The author presents 10 teaching strategies that give attention to affective variables in mathematics classrooms to increase the likelihood that high school students will continue to enroll in higher level mathematics courses. Strategies focus on frustration, vocabulary use, anxiety, confidence, cooperative learning, creativity, remediation, mathematical connections, and promoting mathematics courses.