Do Primary School Children Appreciate Mathematics?

During the past fifteen to twenty years mathematicians and mathematics teachers have placed heavy emphasis on discovery modes of learning and on mathematical recreations, partly because such activities are thought to develop a positive attitude to mathematics and to give a better understanding of mathematics than older teaching techniques did.
Last year, Victoria University Mathematics lecturer Ms Megan Clark completed a study of the attitudes of senior primary school children in the Wellington area, to see what they felt about mathematics.
For set 77 she looks at the official aims of the 1972 Mathematics syllabus, describes her research approach and presents some of the results.