Book Description

The study was designed to see whether using recreational mathematics topics as a curriculum supplement would affect high school students' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics. Recreational mathematics--defined as mathematics presented in a spirit of play--has been used mostly with gifted students. This study attempted to extend the knowledge base to its effects on low achievers. The results supported previous work that showed that attitudes and beliefs are difficult to change. The treatment had only limited effect on attitudes and slightly larger effects on beliefs. Several unexpected gender differences emerged, however. All students enrolled in Consumer Mathematics I at an urban/suburban midwestern high school (N = 81) were included in the study. Seven attitudes and 9 beliefs were surveyed using a researcher-designed questionnaire administered at the beginning and end of the 1-semester class. Achievement was monitored using a test over the mathematics content of the course. Treatment students worked on recreational mathematics during 1 or 2 class periods--an average of 50 to 75 minutes per week--for 13 weeks. Control students spent equivalent time extending or practicing the consumer mathematics content. Results showed that, at the .05 level of confidence, recreational mathematics was effective in changing only 1 of 7 attitudes--concern about the opinions of others--with females in the control group demonstrating increased concern, while treatment females and all males showed a decline. The treatment also was successful in changing beliefs about the amount of time necessary to work mathematics problems, showing that treatment students were willing to spend more time on a problem. Gender-treatment interaction effects were found on beliefs about time, about mathematics being a male domain, and about mathematics being driven by rules. No differences were observed in achievement, indicating that the supplements to the regular curriculum did not harm treatment students.