The effects of history of mathematics on attitudes toward mathematics of college algebra students

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of history of mathematics on attitudes toward mathematics of students enrolled in a college algebra course. The study included a curriculum development phase in which topics from the history of mathematics were gleaned from the literature and incorporated into vignettes to supplement the content of a college algebra course. The vignettes were intended to promote positive attitudes toward mathematics by showing mathematics to be a human endeavor. An experiment was conducted during the 1972-1973 Winter Quarter of Louisiana Tech University to evaluate the materials. Four college algebra classes and two instructors participated. The experimental group and the control group each consisted of two college algebra classes with each experimental class exposed to one vignette per class meeting. Each instructor taught one experimental class and one control class. The experiment was a 2x2 factorial experiment with two levels for treatment and two levels for teacher. There was a control class and an experimental class in each of two time periods which permitted random assignment of subjects. The sample consisted of 67 subjects, 35 in the test group and 32 in the control group.