KAY OWENS, BOB PERRY, JOHN CONROY, NOEL GEOGHEGAN and PETER HOWE RESPONSIVENESS AND AFFECTIVE PROCESSES IN THE INTERACTIVE CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERSTANDING IN MATHEMATICS ABSTRACT. This paper reports on important learning processes emerging during adult mathematics classes that used a teaching approach compatible with a social constructivist theory of knowing. A cyclical teaching model encouraged much discussion about the math- ematical problems presented to paired groups. Whole-class student-led sharing sessions allowed students to continue their interactive constitution of meaning and solutions. Comparisons of pre- and post-course scores on attitude and belief questionnaires indic- ated significant increases in positive attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and about themselves doing mathematics. The overall positive changes in scores on questionnaires are explained in terms of recurrent patterns in thinking inferred from data obtained by observation, interview, and reflective comments. Changes are explained in terms of the interactive effects of affective and heuristic processing during problem solving. Affective processes precipitated students’ responsiveness, modifying the immediate learning context which, in turn, influenced the students’ thinking, creating a ‘snowballing’ effect on learning and affect. Changes were clearly facilitated by the interaction between students and by their shared understandings. 1. INTRODUCTION The teaching and learning approach discussed in this paper has been in use at the University of Western Sydney, Macarthur which offers a one semester elective mathematics subject Mathematics for K-6 Teachers to students in their pre-service primary teacher education course. The sub- ject is designed specifically for students, mostly mature-aged, to meet the mathematical requirement for employment set by the state Department of School Education. Although the content of Mathematics for K-6 Teachers has been per- ceived by students as reasonably related to real world mathematics and to their future employment, it is the effectiveness of the classroom approach which has been most influential in changing attitudes. The focus of this art- icle is the teaching and learning approach and its effect on responsiveness and attitudes. Educational Studies in Mathematics 35: 105–127, 1998. c 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.