int. j. math. educ. sci. technol., 2004 vol. 35, no.

2, 159171

Math clubs and their potentials: making mathematics fun and exciting. A case study of a math club
ELENA C. PAPANASTASIOU*
University of Cyprus, Department of Education P.O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus E-mail: elenapap@ucy.ac.cy

and LAURIE BOTTIGER

St. Pauls Episcopal Day School in Kansas City, Missouri, USA (Received 6 January 2003) The purpose of this study is to describe the results obtained from a survey whose goal was to examine the combination of variables that have contributed to the success of a middle school math club. This is a case of a middle school in which the students are extremely successful in mathematics, and where the majority of the students voluntarily attend its math club. The results of the study show that the students have positive attitudes about mathematics and the club, and that some of the reasons that inuenced them to attend the club were those of being with friends and eating donuts at the club. The results were similar for students of both genders and all grades. In addition, since positive attitudes are associated with higher levels of math achievement, such clubs have the potential to encourage students to enrol in additional mathematics classes while in high school, as well as pursuing mathematics related careers.

1. Introduction The USA, like many other countries, continues to strive to produce the most competent and responsible young learners. This is reected through Goals 2000, which aimed to make the USA the rst in the world in mathematics and science. However, in 1995, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and in 1999 the Third International Mathematics and Science StudyRepeat (TIMSSR), showed that US eighth graders scored below the international average in mathematics and science [1]. Similar discouraging results were produced in 1996 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) which showed that less than a quarter of US eighth graders performed at or above the procient level in mathematics [2]. Consequently, a lot of attention started to be paid in the direction of Asian countries (e.g. Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea) whose students were performing exceptionally well in mathematics and science. Since then, many comparative studies have been published to try to

* The author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology ISSN 0020739X print/ISSN 14645211 online # 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/00207390310001638395

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compare the USA to those countries [37]. The purpose of most of the studies was to understand why these Asian countries are performing so well in mathematics and science. The hope was that by identifying the successful characteristics of the educational systems in Asian countries, the USA can obtain ideas on ways in which the educational system in the USA can be improved. However, one of the inherent problems with some international comparisons is that they can be misleading because the data and the results are based on dierent contexts in terms of educational systems and opportunities [8]. This is because educational systems are intertwined with other societal relationships such as the state, the family and the church [9]. So in order to understand any education system, it is necessary to establish and describe all the determining factors (cultural, historical, geographical, socioeconomic, political, etc.) that inuence the particular system ([9], p. 16). In other words, an educational system needs to be described in context [10]. If this is not done, any conclusions reached by generalizations of such studies could be inappropriate and misleading. So although thoughtful international comparisons can provide useful information and ideas that could assist in the improvement of an educational system, researchers and educators should not ignore successful programmes that take place in their own countries. Consequently, mathematics programmes within the USA that work well should also be closely examined. Studies of such programmes have the advantage that their results are easier to generalize in other contexts within the same country due to possible similarities that might exist in terms of the community, school structure and climate. One such example of a mathematics programme within a US school that works well is the case of the math club at St. Pauls Episcopal Day School in Kansas City, Missouri. This school is exemplary for two reasons. First, the majority of its students show success through test scores, mathematics application skills, and Independent High School placements, and second, because the majority of the students voluntarily engage in mathematics outside of the regular school day through a co-curricular activity called math club. Consequently, it is not unusual to nd the majority of the middle school students within a grade level gathered in the Middle School commons to play math at 7:00 in the morning. This is also a club that has been in successful existence for 7 years, which indicates that this is not a temporary excitement that eventually wears o. So the purpose of this study is to examine the combination of variables that have contributed to the high rate of attendance at this math club and possibly to the high rate of success of the students in the whole school in the area of mathematics. The results of this study are signicant in the sense that this school can serve as a model for other schools in the USA with similar contexts that might desire to improve the mathematics abilities and attitudes of their students.

2. Co-curricular/extracurricular activities in middle schools According to the National Middle School Association, middle schools need to allow early adolescents opportunities for exploration [11]. This can be done through the curriculum, or even through other types of activities that are challenging, integrative and exploratory. Consequently, many middle schools try to develop clubs and other extracurricular activities as part of their exploratory curriculum [12]. This can be achieved more easily when such clubs take advantage

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of the students out of school time since the students tend to spend the larger part of their day out of school [13]. Clubs as part of middle school programmes have been identied to support the academic programme in several ways. More specically, by participating in clubs students can benet educationally and emotionally since they allow students to be with peers, to feel accepted by teachers and peers as well as to engage in positive learning experiences. In addition, such clubs can provide opportunities that can support the academic challenges faced by children each day in school, which can also foster a connectedness inside and outside of the regular school day. Clubs in general also have the advantage that they provide opportunities for students to develop personal self-esteem, inquiring minds, relatively close human relationships and a sense of belonging and purpose or usefulness [1416]. In addition, through their low stress environments, clubs enable students to learn about teamwork and of the importance of cooperation and mutual support [17]. Another advantage of academic clubs is that they enable boys as well as girls to participate in them with the goal of attempting to increase the attitudes, achievement and skills of all students in certain subject matters. For example, clubs have been acknowledged to impact the attitudes of girls and boys regarding the subject matters of mathematics and science [18]. Consequently, in some cases such clubs are established purposefully with the goal of encouraging girls to improve their skills and attitudes in subjects such as mathematics, computers and science [19, 20] since they typically tend to lag behind those of boys. However, the literature on middle school academically oriented middle school clubs is relatively limited. The literature on middle school math clubs is even scarcer, although a few studies do exist [21]. It is not clear if this is because the number of middle school clubs that exist is small, or if they just tend to be nonsuccessful. Consequently, it is also dicult to determine what the characteristics of successful middle school math clubs look like. Success could be examined in terms of high student attendance, positive attitudes in mathematics, as well as in an increase in mathematics learning. So by looking at the dynamics of the club characteristics, with the students attitudes towards mathematics, the club and its characteristics, conclusions can be reached about ways in which mathematics classes or other math clubs can be structured to try to improve the status of the subject of mathematics in schools in the USA.

3. St. Pauls Episcopal School St. Pauls Middle School is an urban independent day school located in a Midwest city. The student body consists of approximately 475 students that range in age from toddlers to eighth graders. St. Pauls school consists of four divisions: the early Childhood Center division that includes toddlers, pre-school and prekindergarten; the primary division that includes kindergarten through second grade; the intermediate division that includes third through fth grade and the middle school division that includes grades six through eighth. Each grade level has an enrolment of approximately 42 students. The student/teacher ratio is 8:1 in the Early Childhood Division; 15:1 in the Primary Division and 20:1 in the Intermediate and Middle School Divisions. The socioeconomic status varies among the families at St. Pauls, and approximately 6% of families receive nancial aid.

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In terms of academics, the students at St. Pauls are academically successful, which is a conclusion that is based on various indicators, which include the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) scores, and the high school placement and college entrance exams. More specically, in the subject area of mathematics, the average national percentile in the mathematics battery on the SAT in the year 20012002 for the fth grade students who attended St. Pauls was 92. This indicates that this fth grade class was better than 92% of the other fth grade classes that took this test in the same grade and at a comparable time. The average national percentile for sixth grade in the mathematics battery on the SAT for year 20012002 was 94. This indicates that this sixth grade class was better than 94% of the other sixth grade classes that took this test in the same grade and at a comparable time. Finally, the average national percentile for seventh grade in the mathematics battery on the SAT for year 20012002 was 96. Another indicator of the success of the students at St. Pauls Episcopal school is reected through their Independent College Preparation High School placement tests. More specically, all of the eighth grade students take mathematics placement tests as a component to their high school application process. Based on these results, the majority of St. Pauls graduates who attend college preparatory or parochial schools in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area are typically placed in their rst choice of high school. The challenging mathematics curriculum at St. Pauls Episcopal school is provided through a logical and sequential structure since the curriculum is spiraled through the whole mathematics programme from pre-k to eighth grade. In the seventh and eighth grade, the mathematics classes are leveled by ability, so the students are placed in regular or accelerated mathematics classes based on a set of three criteria. These criteria include the previous years mathematics grade, standardized test scores and the score each child receives on a teacher generated mathematics placement test. Finally, by eighth grade, all students at St. Pauls are required to take an algebra class. This can be either a basic algebra class, or an accelerated algebra class for the advanced mathematics students. This is an especially important feature of this school since studies have shown that students who do not take algebra classes in middle school are least likely to take a full set of mathematics courses in high school [22]. 3.1. The math club structure and organization In addition to the regular mathematics classes that are required for all students, the students can also choose to attend the math club on Wednesday mornings. The voluntary math club meets on Wednesday mornings from 7:058:05 a.m., and it is taught by the two middle school mathematics teachers. The fth and sixth graders meet in one group every other Wednesday morning, while the seventh and eighth graders meet as a separate group on the opposite Wednesday mornings. On average, there are about 40 to 60 students that attend every math club meeting. When the students arrive at the middle school commons on Wednesday mornings, they meet in the mathematics teachers classroom to share donuts and conversation with peers. After a few minutes, two middle school mathematics teachers who are in charge of the math club assemble the club participants into a line to randomly distribute cards labelled with the numbers 1 to 10. Each number corresponds to a dierent group, and the students have to nd the group area that has their number, as well as their other team members who have been assigned

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with the same number. After this takes place and all students are in their groups, the teachers announce the type of activity that the students will engage in. The activities are those of contests, bingo or thinker math. Contests. When the students in the math club play contest, one teacher facilitates the questions and the other teacher acts as the score keeper. For this activity, each group receives a packet of about 15 pages. Each page includes two mathematics problems, one of which tends to be easy while the other tends to be harder. This was designed in this format to ensure the feeling of success for all, while encouraging all groups to reach new limits. After the packet is administered, each group has two minutes to solve the two mathematics problems. Examples of two mathematics problems at seventh and eighth grade level are the following: 1. The square of 4 multiplied by the square root of 16 equals:_________. 2. What is the product of all the integers between 3 and 3?_________. At the end of two minutes, the teacher/facilitator calls out in the air. The groups hold up their papers, the facilitator collects them and hands them to the score keeper. The next set of questions is approached in the same manner. The score keeper is continuously grading the papers throughout the club meeting, and announces the group rankings after about every three sets of mathematics questions. This allows the students to remain motivated by their collective thinking, while feeling the synergistic feeling within and between all groups. At the end of each the math club session, the top three groups are announced but none beyond those. This allows for the praise of the groups who have done extremely well, without putting down the groups that have done less well. The rst three groups are also rewarded for their achievement by allowing the students to select a piece of candy from the basket rst. However, the rest of the students can also select a piece of candy from the basket, as long as it is after the students in the rst three groups have done so. Bingo. When the students play bingo, each student has a bingo card. There are about eight dierent cards so some students have the same cards. Like all other bingo facilities, the teachers have a ball machine. Bingo focuses on mental math. There are no calculators or paper used other than the bingo cards. One teacher calls out the bingo coordinate, i.e. B7, and the other teacher reads out a mathematics problem. (The teachers have created a set of mental mathematics questions that coordinate with letters and numbers on the card.) The students have a set time to solve the problem and if they have the matching coordinate on their bingo cards, they write the answer in the box. Whenever one or more students have a complete line, horizontal, vertical or diagonal that is lled in, they yell bingo. If all of the answers are correct, they win. Again, the only prize that the students get for completing a line is to be the rst in line to get candy. The rest of the students can also get candy if they wish, as long as it is after the student who just won. Examples of some of the mental mathematics problems used with fth and sixth graders are: 1. Find the sum of 150 172 2. 66 2/3% of $600 is_________. Thinker math. The third type of activity played in the math club is called thinker math. For this activity, the students form 10 groups as described in the

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contests activity. Once the students are in their groups, they receive a paragraph with blank lines in it, as well as a list of numbers that t in the paragraph. This activity is much like a reading closure test, although the answers are provided in a box on the same page, much like a word bank on a vocabulary handout. The group then reads the paragraph and chooses the right answer for each blank line. After a given amount of time has passed, the answers are shared with the whole class. The teams then earn points based on the number of answers that were correct. The rst three teams with the maximum amount of points will again choose their candy rst, before the rest of the teams can do so. An example of a thinker mathematics page is the following: The John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, was completed in _________ and cost $___________ million, or $____________, to build. In 1931, ____________people visited the aquarium. The greatest attendance in a single day was _______________people on May 21, 1931. This single-day attendance was ____________% of the attendance for that year. Answers in answer bank: 3; 1.7; 1929; 78 658; 3 250 000; 4 689 730

4. Methods For the purpose of this study, a survey about the math club experiences and attendance was completed by students who attended St. Pauls middle school math club within the 2001/02 school year. Of the 163 students who were eligible, 118 of them actually attended the mathematics club. This was a 72.39% attendance rate. However, for the purpose of the study, only the responses of 107 students will be used for the analysis of the data since these were the students whose parents signed the consent form that their children could take part in this study. Of the students that completed the survey during class time, 31 were fth graders, 32 were sixth graders, 28 were seventh graders and 16 were eighth graders. Of the respondents, 59.8% were females and 40.2% were males. The questionnaire that was administered to the students included questions about the demographic characteristics of the students, as well as questions about motivational factors related to their math club attendance. These questions included likert type scales that ranged from 1 to 4, with 1 meaning strongly disagree, 2 meaning disagree, 3 meaning agree, and 4 meaning strongly agree. The analyses of these data were purely based on descriptive statistics. It was not possible to perform a lot of inferential statistics with this data for two reasons. First, there were only 14 students who did not attend the math club who have also responded to this questionnaire. Consequently, the ratio of the students who had responded to the questionnaire to the students who did not respond to it was too unequal to be able to obtain any stable or unbiased results from a t-test or an ANOVA type analysis. The second reason why very few inferential statistics were performed is because we did not want to make any inferences to students outside of St. Pauls Episcopal school. So the purpose of this study was purely to describe the characteristics of the sample that participated in our study, to reach conclusions on what characteristics of this math club are so appealing to the students who attend it, as well as identify the possible reasons that motivate these students to attend the club.

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5. Results Attendance at the voluntary club by the respondents ranged from 10.3% who attended only one time throughout the school year, to 28.0% of the students who attended the math club at all times. In addition, there were only 18.7% of the students that attended less than one fourth of the meetings, and 65.4% that attended half or more than half of the meetings. Of the respondents 60.7% of the students earned A grades in mathematics class, 32.7% earned B and only 6.5% earned C in the academic year 2001/02 which is when the data for this study were collected. 5.1. Motivating factors The questionnaire administered to the students asked questions about what they liked about the mathematics club, why they attend the mathematics club, as well as about their overall opinions about mathematics. The data collected from this questionnaire were analysed descriptively in the form of means and percentages. The rst type of questions that were asked had to do with the aspects and characteristics of the math club that they liked. As presented in table 1, the most popular characteristic of the math club that inuenced the students to attend it, was that of being with their friends at the math club (x 3.69). More specically, there were 71.0% of the students who strongly agreed with this statement. The second most popular characteristic of the club based on mean scores, according to the students, was the relaxed way of learning that is used there (x 3.54) (59.8% of the students strongly agreed with this statement), while the third most popular characteristic were the donuts that were oered to them at the math club (x 3.51). For this option, there were 65.7% of the students who strongly agreed that they attended the math club because they liked having donuts at the club. Other characteristics of the math club that the students indicated that inuenced their decisions to attend the club were those of working in groups (x 3.47), not having a lot of pressure at the math club (x 3.46), and using calculators (x 3.41).

I attend the math club because: I like being with friends at the mathematics club I like the relaxed way of learning that is used in the mathematics club I like having donuts at the mathematics club I like working in a group at the mathematics club I like that there is not much pressure in the mathematics club I like group activities I like using calculators at the mathematics club I like working together to learn mathematics skills at the mathematics club I like that the problems are harder than in regular mathematics class I like competing for answers I learn more mathematics because of mathematics club The math club is more fun than regular class Table 1.

Mean 3.69 3.54 3.51 3.47 3.46 3.43 3.41 3.35 3.20 3.20 3.11 2.92

SD 0.50 0.60 0.79 0.61 0.59 0.55 0.63 0.65 0.79 0.65 0.69 0.81

Means and standard deviations of popular characteristics of the mathematics club.

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The two characteristics of the math club that were the least popular reasons for attending the math club according to the students (although they were still popular) were attending the math club so that they can learn more mathematics (x 3.11), and attending the math club because it is more fun than regular mathematics class (x 2.92). Again however, these were not necessarily negative responses since the majority of the students still agreed that these were factors that inuenced them to attend the mathematics club. For example, although the average response for the comment of I attend the math club because it is more fun than regular class was 2.92 out of a total of 4 points, there were also 75.8% of the students who agreed and strongly agreed with this statement. The students were also asked questions concerning if they attended the math club because of their own choice, or if other people such as parents and teachers inuenced them to attend the club. What was very interesting was that 62.6% of the students strongly disagreed, and another 22.4% disagreed that their parents made them go to the math club, as presented in table 2. In addition, there were only 11 students out of the 107 that participated in the study who agreed, and only 5 who strongly agreed that they attended the math club because their parents wanted them to do so. Finally, 25.5% of the students strongly disagreed and 54.7% disagreed that they attended the math club because their teachers wanted them to do so. The students were also asked if they had older siblings that attended the math club in the past, to determine if there was any type of family tradition for attending the club. The majority of the students at the math club (61.7%) did not have older siblings. Of the 41 students who did have older siblings, only 29 of them indicated that their older siblings used to attend mathematics club. These results indicate that although some tradition may exist, and although a small minority of the students attends the math club because of external reasons (e.g. inuenced by teachers or parents), the majority of them willingly chose to attend the math club by themselves. There were 79.4% of the students who indicated that their friends attend mathematics club. There was only one student who strongly disagreed and 28 students who disagreed that their friends attended mathematics club. It is not clear if the rest of the students attend the math club because their friends attend so as well. However, what is clear is that there is a large community of students that attends the mathematics club, which might also indirectly inuence other students

Variables My parents make me go to mathematics club I go to the math club because my teachers want me to attend mathematics club My friends go to mathematics club I go to the math club because it is more fun than regular class

Strongly disagree (%) 62.6 25.5 0.9 6.5

Disagree (%) 22.4 54.7 26.2 17.8

Agree (%) 10.3 18.9 52.3 53.3

Strongly agree (%) 4.7 0.9 20.6 22.4

Table 2. Possible reasons for attending the mathematics club.

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to attend. This is also supported by the fact that 75.8% of the students indicated that they go to the math club because it is more fun than regular class. 5.2. Overall mathematics attitudes The questionnaire also included questions about the students general opinions about mathematics. There were 32.7% of the students who indicated that they love mathematics, 60.7% who responded that they liked mathematics, 5.6% who disliked mathematics, and 0.9% (one student) who hated mathematics. Questions were also asked regarding if the students attitudes towards mathematics were what inuenced them to attend the math club. Based on these questions, there were 24.5% of the students that strongly agreed that they attended the math club because mathematics is their favourite subject, and there were 42.5% who agreed that they attended the math club because mathematics was their favourite subject. Another question that was asked was whether the students attended the math club because they considered that they were good in mathematics. There were 89.7% of the students who agreed and strongly agreed with this statement, although at the same time another 99.1% of the students also agreed or strongly agreed that they attended the math club because they wanted to improve in mathematics. There were also 72.9% of the students who strongly agreed with the previous statement. This indicates that although the large majority of the students responded that they believe that they are good in mathematics, they still want to increase their performance in this subject. However, there was only one student who disagreed that she went to the math club because she wanted to improve in math. What is interesting is that this student already had an A in math. However, there were other students who also had As in mathematics who still indicated that they wanted to improve in the subject. So it is not clear how this response should be interpreted. It is likely that this student is just happy to receive an A in class regardless of the amount of mathematics that she actually learned. Finally, there were also 49.5% of the students who either agreed or strongly agreed that they attended the math club because they wanted to be among the best mathematics students in the school. At the same time there were only 15.0% who strongly disagreed and 35.5% who disagreed with this statement. This study has also found a signicantly positive relationship between attitudes towards mathematics and mathematics grades (r 0.492, p 0.00). So the students with the most positive attitudes towards mathematics had the highest grades in mathematics. In addition, it was found that the students were well aware of their skills in mathematics. The correlation between the students mathematics grades with their response on how good they were in mathematics indicates a positive and signicant correlation (r 0.486, p 0.00). In turn, the variables of being good in mathematics and liking mathematics were also highly and signicantly correlated (r 0.595, p 0.00). So the students who liked mathematics the most also indicated that they were good in math. However, what is not clear if the positive attitudes are what have inuenced these high grades or if the high grades have inuenced the positive attitudes for these students. Finally, the students were also asked more specic questions about the types of games they liked doing in the math club most. The most popular game was that of contests, which was followed by playing bingo and thinker math. Sixty per cent of the students strongly agreed that they liked the contests, 89.6% agreed and

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strongly agreed that they liked bingo, while 84% agreed and strongly agreed that they liked thinker math. 5.3. Group dierences A series of exploratory ANOVAs were preformed to determine if there were signicant group dierences within the students who took part in the math club. Since a large number of analyses were performed, the alpha-level of signicance was adjusted with the Bonferonni adjustment to avoid the ination of the alphalevel estimate. The results of these analyses have shown that the variables of math grades, gender, and grade level, did not consistently and signicantly predict any of the other variables used in this questionnaire beyond the chance level. This indicates that the students of both genders, of all grade levels, and who had any type of mathematics grade did not signicantly dier in terms of the aspects of the math club that have inuenced them to attend it. This is encouraging, especially in terms of gender, since females have always tended to be an under-represented minority in the area of mathematics, which does not seem to be the case in this school. In addition, the result that showed that there were no dierences in the amount of students from each grade level that attended the club, indicates that the enthusiasm about the club does not decrease as the students enter higher middle school grades.

6. Conclusions and implications The purpose of this study was to look into the math club at St. Pauls Episcopal School in Kansas City Missouri. This club and school are especially interesting for two reasons. First, because their students tend to perform exceptionally well on standardized mathematics tests, and second, because the majority of their students voluntarily choose to attend the math club. So this study wanted to specically examine what inuenced the students to attend the math club, as well as what are the characteristics of the math club that make it so appealing to such a large proportion of the students within this school. To begin with, the overall results of this study have shown that the students have very positive attitudes about the subject of mathematics, as well as very positive attitudes about the math club. In addition, the majority of the students have indicated that they attend the math club voluntarily, and not because they are forced to do so by their parents or their teachers. This was the case for students of both genders and of all middle school grade levels. Consequently, the next step was to determine why these students voluntarily choose to attend the math club. To examine this, the students were asked a series of questions regarding possible characteristics of the club, or reasons that might have inuenced them to attend the math club. These questions ranged from reasons related to learning (e.g. to learn more mathematics), reasons related to extrinsic factors (e.g. eating donuts or to be with friends), as well as reasons related to the characteristic of learning activities that take place during the math club (e.g. competing for answers, using calculators, working in groups).The majority of the students tended to have positive attitudes about every characteristic of the club since they majority of them agreed that to some extent all of these characteristics have inuenced them in some way to attend. However, there were some reasons that were much more inuential than others. For example, the results have

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shown that reasons such as being with friends at the math club, and eating donuts there were some of the most popular reasons for attending the math club. This indicates that external type reasons that are not directly mathematics related do signicantly inuence the students to attend the club. This is not necessarily a negative result that should be eliminated though. Although these might be some of the reasons that inuence students to attend this club, they do not deter them from actually improving in mathematics since they are already there. It is possible that once the students start attending the club, they might end up wanting to improve in mathematics so that their teams can win the rst prices in the games that are played there. So again, as long as some learning takes place, the advantage of attending the math club does exist. This is in accord with prior studies which have found that positive attitudes can inuence students to improve in the subject matter of mathematics [8]. Consequently, if the friends who attend the math club or the donuts help in creating positive attitudes towards math, then those activities should be encouraged. There were other more technical aspects related to the activities that took place at the math club that were also examined in this study. Such aspects included the use of calculators, group work, competing for answers, etc. Again, the students responded positively to those aspects although they were not their major reasons that inuenced the students to attend the club. However, this does not mean that these characteristics are worthless or that they should be ignored. One should not forget the gestalt theory that claims that the whole is always more than the sum of its parts. So although the students might not see the unique value of group work activities, or of the process of competing for answers, they do see the holistic value of playing games at the club. However, without group work and without competing for answers they would not be able to play games at the club. Another interesting result found in this study is that although the students tend to do well in mathematics, they still indicated that they wanted to improve in mathematics (72.9% strongly agreed with this statement), while at the same time they responded less positively in their agreement that they learn more mathematics because of the math club. This might reect that the students might want to continue to improve in mathematics because they have a true interest in this subject matter. More specically, if a student has positive attitudes about a school subject, and they enjoy studying it, it is expected that they will probably also want to improve in that subject. At the same time however, the students in this study indicated that they dont necessarily attend the math club because they learn more mathematics there. This might be for two reasons. Either because the students might not realize that they are learning more mathematics at the club since they are focused on the donuts, their friends and the games, or because they dont cover new mathematics content at the club, but instead do drill and practice activities on knowledge that the students already have learned in their regular mathematics classes. Either way, however, these responses show a very healthy and positive relationship between the students mathematics attitudes and achievement in relation to the mathematics club. Developing positive attitudes towards mathematics through the math club in the middle school is an especially important result of this study. Students who are in middle school are in a critical stage, since the attitudes that they have towards mathematics can inuence their future trajectories [22]. For example, students who have positive attitudes towards mathematics in the middle school are more

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likely to enroll in mathematics classes in high school, and are also more likely to consider choosing a math related career in the future. In addition, attitudes have been shown in many studies to inuence achievement [3, 8, 22]. These relationships are especially important since attitudes have the advantage that they can be manipulated (unlike SES for example). Since positive attitudes are associated with the math club, the potential of its eects are tremendous.

7. Limitations One conclusion that this study was not able to reach, is whether the high mathematics performances of the students within the school on standardized tests was due to the math club or not. Since the students choose to attend the club on a voluntary basis, and since no experimental study was performed, it was very dicult to reach any causeeect conclusions about this relationship. What makes this even more dicult is that the results of the standardized scores are not oered on an individual level. Consequently, we were not able to compare the results of the students who attended the math club with the students who did not attend. In addition, the mathematics grades in school of the students who attended the math club could not be compared to the grades of the students who did not attend the club since many of the parents of the non-attendees had not returned the consent form that would allow the researchers to use this information. However, although this relationship could not be established, the overall environment that exists in relation to mathematics and the math club at St. Pauls is astonishing. This is an example of an academic club that is extremely successful in a school setting in the USA, which could easily be used as a model where mathematics works. Although the idea for the model is relatively simple, its results are immense. Such models should be examined closely by other school districts in the USA, and more attempts should be made for such models to be replicated. References
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[12] BRAZEE, E., 2000, Exploratory Curriculum in the Middle School. ERIC Document ED447970. [13] COLTIN, L., 1999, Enriching Childrens Out-of-School Time. ERIC Document ED429737. [14] AIEX, N. K., 1996, Parent Participation in Middle School Language Arts. ERIC Document 399564. [15] HALE, R. P., 1993, Schools in the Middle, 2(4), 23. [16] WHITAKER, T, and HAYS, C., 1998, Schools in the Middle, 7(3), 15. [17] GREER, H., 1991, A Middle School Activities Program That Works. ERIC Document ED332965. [18] NICHOLSON, H. J., 1988, Who Stole the Cookies? Out-of-School Mathematics in Operation SMART. ERIC Document ED302404. [19] BOLING, K. B., and LARSON, C. N., 2002, Teaching Children Math., 8, 284. [20] KARP, K. S., and NIEMI, R. C., 2000, Math. Teaching in the Middle School, 5, 426. [21] TAGGERT, S., 1999, Math. in Middle School, 28(3), 34. [22] SINGH, K., GRANVILLE, M., and DIKA, S., 2002, J. Educ. Res., 95, 323.