European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 5, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Finders presented with that month s offerings. Pick one and you re running a full program in the Home Small business educational or recreational Arras the programs Are varied and Many of whom Are aimed at practical even mundane ends. If you want id Catalon your collection of hotel ashtrays or Back issues or the classical review or anything else there s a program for doing just that in Susa 47. Test your knowledge o astronomy no. 43. Drga Nije your workweek no. A. So that you Don t have to buy All the Back issues to Jot everything you might want. In. Magarette also packages both previously published and new programs into a series of anthologies called end user Soll Waie. These Are collections of routines Tor office Home and classroom use games and computer inductions in Magarette. A monthly now has 55 issues behind it. Subscriptions Are $1 so a year from , Magabelle. 1306 Petroleum Tower Shreveport la 71101 single ,ssuesarest4.85. Day Linance Al troubles i can gel into it jus about any Lime and Tho Oiler pilots can read in when they re Able he said. There Are also conferences Lor More personal scuba. When Kramer travelled to Alaska lie shared his experiences with Home bound friends i Hough a daily computer journal. He started another computer round Able to discuss his feelings Atler his lather died. A lol of people went on line to talk Aboul  he said. I Leel i know som Jample very Well who i met on line and who i have never met Facchio Locc " Furm a capt it t an Etc tronic matting january a 1983 to Ftp my to persists that math6mtte often esoteric subject Flatt Law my for to cwt in Tara. Conquering math anxiety by Fred m. Hechinger new York times Only 362 americans received doctorates in mathematics in the last academic year out of 32.000 Doc locates awarded in the United Stales according to a report by the american mathematical solely and the mathematical association of America. This is the lowest number in 15 years at a time when mathematics is a hey to scientific technological and Industrial Success. Edward a. Connors chairman of the ams maa committee on employment and educational policy Calls the situation frightening and a threat to National Security and economic compe Lilivene Over All. 699 math doctorates were awarded Many to foreigners Down from about 1.200 in 1970. Why do blight students avoid mathematics according to Sheila Tobias who has Long been involved in helping students conquer math anxiety the answer is not simple. The myth persists that mathematics is an esoteric subject necessary Only Lor scientific geniuses. Young people think of it As Dull and teachers often make it so. They give students Little Opportunity to debate Rath in class As they do other subjects. Instead math teachers olten press Lor the one right answer stress memorizing rules and Force students to keep their eyes on the clock for Quick answers. In her Fiew Book. Succeed with math every student s guide to conquering math anxiety Tobias proposed an Alle Nativo. In the Book published by the Coli ego Board Tobias urged that students be Laughl to think Aboul mathematics As they work. For example Ahe recommended Hal they Divide the paper in Hall and while Down thoughts and concerns on one Side while working on the problem on the other taking think my and writing Aboul math Are rare in school she said but they Are constant among mathematicians who fill tablecloths with calculations when they discuss their work Over dinner. Like Connors. Tobias said she considered it particularly serious that virtually no Black or hispanic students Are currently choosing careers in mathematics of mathematics education in 19b6. She adds Only nine members of these groups received doctorates in mathematics. And while the number of women studying math has increased in the Quarter Century it is far trom enough. In 1950, american women got nine math doctorates in 1985, they earned 109, still a disproportionately Small number men earned 590. Tobias a history and literature major became a crusader against math anxiety As associate Provost at Wesleyan University when in began admitting women in 1970. She was appalled that the most Inlet Igent women shied away from math. Professors made them Leel they were either too dumb or too Lazy to do math she said. Tobias began Lovicz math anxiety in part As n feminist Issue in 1975. Sho helped open a math anxiety clinic on Campus. She put up math symbols and asked students do these look Gosule to you1?" we listened to students she said. As part of the treatment she encouraged them to talk about i hair experiences with mathematics Way  Many she Lound had been doing Well through elementary school then suddenly they hit on something perhaps geometry that they did not understand. Without help they fell stupid and gave up. Men also suffered from main anxiety she said but they covered in up in 1978, the wrote her to Rel Book overcoming Malti anxiety aimed at adults especially women. The now Book is aimed at students who enter College and insist ill never Lake another math course  i want to make sure that history or literature majors won t gel out of College Wilhour having taken any math she said adding that everyone should be come arable discussing mailers involving mathematics very verbal students think wrongly that in math you just have to memorize to get by Tobias said. Real math majors know that the opposite is Rue you Don t have to memorise. You can work things out even if you Figol ins formula mathematics textbooks Are Ollan at Lull. Sho said. Students who Are used to getting information by Reading Don t get it from these books she said. They Are written like cooking instructions. The Reader expects Points Lobo repeated but once something has been said it never comes Back. Tho books tack what psychologists Call spiral reinforcement making the same Point again Al a slightly higher  like Many computer manuals Tobias said math books arc nol  Sho also chided teachers who Don t let students improvise they believe that there is one Way to solve a problem it just in t  As an example Tobias cited this problem. A car travels 50.000 Miles with its five tires rotated equally throughout to trip How Many Miles will any Ono lire have been on the Road Tho approved answer Tobias says. Is that each is on Iho Road four i laths of the time and four filth of 50.000 is 40.000. But Sho added a Slud enl May ask hint i How Long was any tire in the trunk since there Are live tires thai were rotated regularly each acted As a spare for 10,000 Miles. Or a Slud enl May figure Hal if the car goes a total of 50,000 Miles. Ihen tour tires in service will total 200,000 Miles and one filth of that Lola 40.000 Miles would be the on the Road share for. Each lire. The Point Tobias says is Hal there Are Many Dili Oien ways to solve a problem based not on a formula bul on thought. Many leathers she said just want the Correct answer As tast As possible be an error can be a window into How a student thinks and Loo few teachers use Hal  the stabs and stripes Pago 15