ABSTRACT
Mention mathematics to most people and you get an emotional response. Adults willingly confess that they can’t do maths. They tell you how hard it was at school and how particularly heinous teachers tried to implant mathematics into their brains. Jokes about school mathematics unite generations of school children and adults in a shared culture of intrigues, mystery and fear, so any contemporary study of children’s perceptions of their learning should attempt to address their reactions to school mathematics.
