An attitude inventory can be used in conjunction with teaching, specifically mathematics, to easily and efficiently identify a student's assessment of his or her own personal abilities. A series of statements referring to mathematical traits and capabilities are presented to the students in which they choose yes, no, or maybe as a proper response. Younger students can be presented with three faces that represent these same concepts.

Some statements regularly seen on these inventories include, but are not limited to:

  • I feel sure of myself when I get an answer to a problem.
  • Math class makes me feel nervous.
  • I do not like to work at problems that are hard to understand.
  • I will work a long time at a problem until I think I've solved it.
Resources include: Teaching Elementary Mathematics 300 level course at Ball State University, Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally (fourth edition) by John A. Van de Walle