An assessment of the attitudes and anxieties of the African-American students who were enrolled in Developmental Mathematics II classes at Halifax Community College

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine two affective variables that usually hinder the mathematical performance of students. Specifically, this study was to assess the attitudes toward the learning of mathematics and the mathematics anxieties of the African-American students enrolled in Developmental Mathematics II classes at Halifax Community College. Along with assessing the attitudes toward the learning of mathematics and the mathematics anxieties of the African-American students, the study examined if there was a difference between attitudes towards learning of mathematics and mathematics anxieties of the African-American and non African-American students.

Using the two instruments (Fennema-Sherman Attitudes toward the Learning of Mathematics Scales and Suinn's Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale) of the study, along with the long interviews of some of the African-American students, it was found that overall the attitudes toward the learning of mathematics were positive and that mathematics anxieties were not prevalent among the African-American students. It was also found that there were no significant differences between the mathematics anxieties of the African-American and non African-American students and no significant differences between the attitudes toward the learning of mathematics of the African-American and the non African-American students who were enrolled in the Developmental Mathematics II classes at Halifax Community College.