The impact of positive statements about mathematics on middle school students' achievement

The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of positive reinforcement on students' achievement in mathematics and to investigate the impact of positive reinforcement on students' attitudes.;A pre-test post-test design was conducted in which the researcher taught all four classes in the study. The study consisted of four eighth-grade general math classes, for a total of 32 students; 7 in Class A, 6 in Class B, 12 in Class C, and 7 in Class D. Each class name was placed in a box and drawn randomly to determine which classes would receive the positive reinforcement and which classes would not receive any positive reinforcement. Class A and Class B were randomly chosen to receive positive reinforcement (treatment group). Class C and Class D were randomly chosen not to receive positive reinforcement (control group). There were a total of 13 students in the treatment group and a total of 19 students in the control group for a total of 32 students.;The findings in this study indicated that students receiving positive reinforcement changed their perceptions about mathematics after the 10-week period as opposed to students who did not receive positive reinforcement. The findings also indicated that gender had no affect on students' attitudes towards mathematics or on students' achievement in mathematics. However, the findings indicated that positive reinforcement does have an effect on students' achievement in mathematics.