Over the past two years, data from over 500 students has been collected
about mathematics anxiety, attitudes, and performance, both at Truman
and at Moberly Area Community College. Although many of our initial
assumptions have been confirmed, several results are more surprising.
The resulting research question proposed for future investigation is
whether efforts to reduce anxiety will lead to improved performance,
especially when those efforts reduce time-on-task in a mathematics or
statistics course at these two schools.

In traditional counseling settings, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a
leading method of reducing anxiety. CBT encourages students to recognize
unhealthy thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors, and to work to replace
these with more constructive patterns. In some ways, many good teachers
unknowingly use methods consistent with CBT simply by encouraging good
study skills, but more sophisticated methods will seem foreign to most
of us. While full scale counseling is not practical in a classroom, we
believe that techniques from CBT may be integrated into the mathematics
class to reduce anxiety and improve performance.

A pilot study is being conducted at MACC this semester, with a
professional counselor and substantial class time being directed to CBT
techniques. Control classes are spending this time on additional
exercise and traditional classroom activities. Funding is being sought
to expand this program to Truman mathematics classes through intensive
summer research experiences similar to the STEP and Math/Bio programs.

This talk will discuss current progress in more detail and demonstrate a
variety of instruments being used, including ways of measuring anxiety,
locus-of-control, and even hopefullness. Faculty and students will be
invited to participate in the research in more direct ways as it
develops, so this is a chance to learn about the details ahead of time.