Abstract
There has been a great deal of research into aspects of mathematics anxiety and learners negative experiences and the effects of collecting this ‘baggage’ that is carried onto future experiences with the learner. Are the experiences and therefore the baggage collected by those who are successful in studying mathematics different? This paper addresses the issue of what constitutes the ‘right baggage’ collected from early experiences that positively influence attitudes and achievement in mathematics. Using oral history as the method for collecting those early experiences this paper describes the results from interviews of mathematicians, raising questions for mathematics educators.
