In the tradition of TSG 24 of last ICME, the Topic Study Group 30, “Motivation, beliefs and attitudes towards mathematics and its teaching” addresses researchers working in the field of affect in mathematics education. The constructs motivation, beliefs, and attitudes should be interpreted in the broadest sense of the terms. Consequently, we invite discussion on all areas of affect: attitude, beliefs, emotion, goals, identity, motivation, needs, self-concept, and values as they play a crucial role in mathematics learning and teaching.

Affect has been a topic of interest in mathematics education research for different reasons and from different perspectives for more than thirty years. Today we know that affective variables can be seen as either hidden or explicit factors that influence learning outcomes as well as teaching praxis. The different research perspectives that have been used in the study of affect include psychological, social, philosophical, and linguistic. We welcome all these and as well as other perspectives.

The aim of the TSG30 is to generate discussion around this broad field of related phenomena with a special emphasis on both, the students’ and the teachers’ level.

We would like to engage interested participants in the review process prior to the conference and nominate respondents to all presentations in order to enable deeper levels of critical discussion during the conference. The activities of the group during the conference will include a few lecture-type presentations with most of the time spent in discussions around accepted papers.

Key words: affect, attitude, beliefs, emotion, goals, identity, motivation, needs, self-concept, values.

The organizers of the Topic Study Group 30, “Motivation, beliefs and attitudes towards mathematics and its teaching” invite research-based papers on affect in mathematics education. We encourage papers from researchers worldwide and are particularly interested in papers that relate theory to practice.

Based on the received proposals the Organizing Team of TSG30 will compose the program. Please keep in mind that Congress policy is that each individual is restricted to one major speaking appearance. The program of TSG30 is thus subject to final approval by the IPC of ICME-11.

The Organizing Team intends to edit a special issue of an international journal with selected papers accepted for TSG30.

Proposals should be in English and should have the following content:

• - Title
• - Name(s) and e-mail addresses of the author(s)
• - Institution, country
• - Abstract (max 10 lines)
• - The main text
• - References
• - Appendices

The length of the paper may be 4–12 pages (including references and appendices). For submissions, please use the same format as for PME:

• - A4 paper, size 21 cm x 29.7 cm
• - Margins should be set at 2.5 cm top and 2.5 cm bottom; 2 cm left and 2 cm right
• - All text should be Times.
• - Sizes are 14 point for normal text and 13 point for quotes, transcripts and references
• - Use 16 point line spacing and 6 points between paragraphs.
• - Use no more than three levels of headings: TITLE uppercase 16 point, HEADING 2 uppercase 14 point, Heading 3 lowercase 14 point

A template is available at

http://www.pme31.org/proposals/proposals_templates.htm

Proposals should be submitted electronically to Team Chairs. Proposals received will be acknowledged upon reception.

If you have further questions, please contact any of the team chairs or team members.

In TSG30 we will use a peer review system and provide an opportunity for participants to develop their papers through the review process. All contributors are expected to review 2-3 of the other papers and we welcome non-contributors to volunteer as reviewers. Guidelines for review will be sent to reviewers along with the papers to be reviewed. Based on the reviews, the organizing team will

1. accept the paper for an oral presentation,
2. accept the paper for presentation by distribution,
3. accept the paper for either oral presentation or presentation through distribution, but require the author(s) to revise their paper, or
4. reject the paper.

In cases 1), 2), and 3), the authors are expected to develop their papers based on the reviews and the paper will be published on the TSG30 website before the Congress. Authors may also bring paper copies to be distributed at the conference.

• - Submission of proposals 15 December, 2007
• - Deadline for reviews 30 January, 2008
• - Decision of the organizing team 15 February, 2008
• - Submission of revised paper 1 April, 2008