Math and Statistics Anxiety Research

Diane Johnson received a Master's Degree in Counseling from CSU East Bay in August of 2005. Her thesis research involves math and statistics anxiety. The first Power Point presentation below was presented at the HSU Math Colloquium on September 4, 2003. It was entitled, "Math & Statistics Anxiety: Its Causes and Treatments". The second Power Point presentation below is from a talk given at the CMC Far North Conference in Arcata, CA on October 22, 2005. It was entitled, "Math and Statistics Anxiety, An Overview". The literature review below is a review of current literature on math anxiety as of August, 2003. The Math Test Anxiety Checklist comes from "Conquering Math Anxiety, second edition" by Cynthia Arem, Brooks/Cole Publishing (2003). It is included as an aid for the math- and statistics- anxious student who is facing a test. Finally, the Learning Styles Questionnaire helps people to determine how they learn. It, too, comes from "Conquering Math Anxiety" by Arem.

PowerPoint Presentation on Math and Statistics Anxiety at HSU September 2003

Power Point Presentation on Math & Statistics Anxiety at CMC Far North Conference in Arcata, CA October 2005

Math Anxiety Literature Review with references

Math Test Anxiety Checklist

Learning Styles Questionnaire

Gaussian Quadrature with Fixed Points
This is a Power Point Presentation given on December 2, 2004 at Humboldt State as a part of the Mathematics Department Colloquium Series.

Midsemester Evaluations

Midsemester evaluations are a process of discovering from students and faculty important aspects and possible positive changes for a course. The first step is an interview between a trained facilitator and the interested instructor. Important aspects of a course are discussed and instructor's questions are addressed. The second stage is a 20-30 minute interview of the students by the facilitator. The instructor is not present. Students meet in small groups for the initial 10 minutes to identify strengths and areas for change in the course. For the following 10 minutes the class comes together and clarifies the ideas discussed in the small groups. The facilitator works towards a consensus among the students. The next stage of the process is an interview between the facilitator and the instructor where these comments and suggestions are discussed and concrete changes are considered.

The instructor has complete freedom to decide what to do with the input. It is important that he or she will consider change whenever it is to everyone's mutual advantage. The process is strictly confidential and entirely separate from retention and tenure.

MidSemester evaluations have been offered at HSU since the Spring of 1997. Dr. Donald Wulff from the University of Washington offered a workshop on performing these evaluations in February, 1998. Since then we have had a local team of facilitators on campus. This project has been supported by the Office of Undergraduate Studies, the Faculty Development Committee and the Office of Academic Affairs. Read a recent history to learn more about the history of the program.

To have a Midsemester evaluation performed in a specific course, contact Diane Johnson at dlj1@axe.humboldt.edu.

Calculus Reform

Dr. Johnson's interests at Humboldt State University (HSU) include Calculus Reform, Math History, and Approximation Theory. In the area of Calculus Reform she has been a co-PI with Professor Edmund Lamagna at the University of Rhode Island in developing classroom materials which utilize "Newton" (which was previously entitled "the Calculus Companion"), an interface to Maple. "Newton" is a Macintosh computer application which is designed to facilitate the understanding of calculus. In June of 1992 Professor Johnson received an Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) entitled "Exploration in a Laboratory Setting with the Calculus Companion". This grant provided for a new Macintosh laboratory at HSU.

Mathematics and Culture, an Historical Perspective

This is a course which is included in the HSU Women's Studies Program. It covers the influence of various cultures on the development of math, including early work by women and people with diverse backgrounds. This includes the mathematics of ancient Babylon, Egypt, Greece, the Islamic people and India, as well as that of Medieval Europe. The influence of mathematics on the peoples of Africa is likewise explored. This course covers mathematics preceeding the development of calculus. It also uses cooperative learning techniques extensively.

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