Anxiety about Mathematics and Attitudes toward the Metric System

Abstract

While Congress authorized a change-over to the metric system in 1975, the majority of Americans remain opposed to its adoption (Gallup, 1977). Systematic attempts to determine the source of this opposition appear to be lacking. T o the extent that converting from our current system of measurement to the metric system requires individuals to use mathematical reasoning, the opposition may stern from unfavorable attitudes towards mathematics. This investigation was designed to determine if level of anxiety about mathematics was related to attitudes towards the metric system. Specifically, we hypothesized that individuals with elevated levels of anxiety about mathematics would be more opposed to adoption of the metric system than individuals low in such anxiety. Subjects were 69 undergraduates (26 men, 43 women) who completed the FennemaSherman Mathematics Anxiety Scale (Fennema & Sherman, 1976) and an instrument designed to measure attitudes towards the metric s y ~ t e m . ~ The mean scores for men were 41.04 ( S D = 8.65) on the math anxiety scale and 21.6 ( S D = 4.85) for the attitudes toward the metric system scale. The mean scores for 'women were 39.69 (SD = 12.11) for the anxiety scale and 22.3 (SD = 5.34) for the attitudes toward the metric system scale. r tests indicated no significant sex differences on either instrument. Pearson correlations between the Fennerna-Sherman Mathematics Anxiety Scale and the attitudes toward the metric system scale were -.41 ( p .05) for men. These results indicate that for women, but not men, high anxiety about mathematics is related to negative attitudes towards adoption of the metric system. Attempts on the part of educators to convert women to the metric system might consider redccing the level of anxien, about mathematics as a means of obtaining this goal.