This paper reports some initial findings from research designed to understand more deeply the motivational and emotional landscape of disaffection with school mathematics. A context is described in which there has been significant concern expressed about a number of aspects of mathematics education, but where affect is seen as salient to these…

Given the important role of the affective variables in the process of learning, this paper examines ways of overcoming negative effects (i.e. anxiety, boredom) of the contextual factors. Exemplifying the uses of humor through context-specific, purpose-driven jokes, it maintains that humor can be utilized to produce a resourceful, encouraging and…

The Youth in Transition project, a longitudinal study (which began in 1966) of a national sample of young men is described in this report. (Major objectives of the project were (1) to explore Lhe effects of dropping out of high school, (2) to assess the degree to which educational and occupational attainments are predictable from tenth grade…