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Mike Peters1, Sue Johnston-Wilder2
1Aston University, United Kingdom, 2Warwick University
In recent years there has been a growing concern about the anxiety experienced by school children when learning mathematics. Mathematics Anxiety has been defined as "a feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in ordinary life and academic situations". The implications of children suffering with Mathematics Anxiety can be avoidance of situations where mathematics is required. It can also lead to perfectly capable children not wishing to pursue careers in disciplines that depend upon the application of mathematics. This has consequences for all areas of engineering.
The research question for this investigation was to determine if there was any evidence to suggest that students who chose to study engineering were not anxious about mathematics. The implications of this question are that if the skills shortage in engineering is going to be addressed, the engineering community needs to work with schools in order overcome mathematics anxiety and hence encourage children to consider careers in engineering.
This investigation involved a cohort of 380 first year undergraduate engineering students completing an on-line questionnaire. Of this cohort 41 responded, representing approximately 11% of the population. The analysis of the results show that amongst the students who responded there was little evidence of anxiousness concerning mathematics. This is not surprising since most of them had studied mathematics at an advanced level prior to coming to university. Also, the students had not had any formal assessments prior to completing the questionnaire and therefore would feel secure based on their a-priori achievements in mathematics. Once the end of module assessment has been carried out the results will be compared to the responses given in the questionnaire. The questionnaire will be issued again during the advanced second module on engineering mathematics and a comparison made to determine if there has been a change in attitudes once the students had experienced more challenging mathematics and could not rely upon prior knowledge.