AN ANECDOTAL AND HISTORICAL APPROACH TO MATHEMATICS

The problem of this study was whether or not integrated historical and anecdotal material in mathematics can reduce mathematics anxiety and improve mathematics competency.;An experimental course of study consisting of forty lessons was developed for use in this investigation. The course of study was developed from an historical approach and made use of case histories, source papers, readings, anecdotes and other forms of material available and applicable to the mathematical course content for high school students.;The sample consisted of 136 tenth grade students from a Westchester County, New York high school. Six "average" ability groups made up the sample. The classes were randomly assigned to three teachers. Each taught one control and one experimental group. The investigation lasted two and one-half months.;The instruments used were The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale and the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. Pretests and posttests were administered in April and June of 1977.;The hypotheses were: (1) An anecdotal and historical approach to mathematics will reduce mathematics anxiety in students. (2) An anecdotal and historical approach and historical approach to teaching mathematics will result in an increase in mathematics competency. (3) A reduction of mathematics anxiety in students will result in students' increased mathematics competency.;A two-factor analysis of covariance was used for the analysis of data. The pretest scores were used as covariates to equate the groups for initial differences in mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement. The posttest scores are the dependent variable.;The analysis of covariance of the difference scores revealed that the teaching method was a significant source of variation in favor of those students who studied under the historical approach instruction method.;The major findings of this study were: (1) An anecdotal and historical approach to teaching standard tenth grade mathematics did reduce mathematics anxiety in students. (2) An anecdotal and historical approach to teaching standard tenth grade mathematics did result in students increased mathematics competency. (3) A reduction in mathematics anxiety in students resulted in students' increased mathematics competency.;The experimental treatment was found to have a strong and statistically significant effect on the reduction of mathematics anxiety and the improvement of mathematics competency. Moreover, as hypothesized, as mathematics anxiety decreased, mathematics competency increased. This pattern was consistent between experimental groups and among mathematics competency subtests.