A Comparison of the Mathematics Attitudes of Black Students According to Grade Level, Gender, and Academic Achievement

Do Biology Students Really Hate Math? Empirical Insights into Undergraduate Life Science Majors’ Emotions about Mathematics

“…We also compared responses of students according to their race/ethnicity (white, Asian, and underrepresented minority [URM], 3 which included students identifying as African American or Black, Hispanic or Latina/o, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander). Previous research is equivocal regarding whether students with different racial or ethnic identities differ in their attitudes toward mathematics ( Matthews, 1984 ; Rech, 1994 ), and most of this work has been done at the precollege rather than undergraduate level. Finally, we compared students’ responses by year in school (lower division = freshmen and sophomores; upper division = juniors and seniors).…”

Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Self-Reported Levels of Engagement in High School Math and Science Courses

“…If Black and Hispanic female students were having difficulties in these subjects, we suspect their reported levels of challenge would be higher. And if challenge in this case was capturing the emotional dimension of student engagement (e.g., anxiety), we suspect their reported levels of challenge would also be higher since past literature has shown that both Black and Hispanic female students express more anxiety or negative feelings about math and sciences classes (Catsambis, 1994; Rech, 1994).…”

“…Navarro, Flores, and Worthington (2007) also found that Mexican American girls are less confident in both their math and science skills than their Mexican American male peers. Similarly, Rech (1994) found that Black female elementary and junior high school students reported lower levels of self-concept in mathematics and enjoyment of mathematics than Black male students. Nevertheless, studies about attitudes toward math and science still do not inform on how students feel while they are in their math and science courses.…”

Examining Academic Coping Strategies Among Black American Students in Terms of Math Resilency

“…Powell (1990) stated that as a cultural group, Black American's do not have the expectation to perform well in mathematics, and subsequently give up on trying to succeed in mathematics if they perform poorly. Rech (1994) found that even students that have high math computation abilities have higher math anxiety than White students that have high math computation abilities, and are more likely to have negative attitudes towards math and be deterred from enrolling in higher-level math courses as they continue in their educational career.…”

“…This lack of research on Black American students' success in mathematics creates a belief and stereotype that Black students are unable to achieve such. Rech (1994) found that even Black American students that have high math computation abilities have higher math anxiety than White students with high math computation abilities, and are more likely to have negative attitudes towards math and be deterred from enrolling in higher level math courses as they continue their educational career.…”