Acta Didactica Napocensia

Volume 10 Number 2, pages 99-108

Published: 25 August 2017

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS MATHEMATICS AND THE IMPACTS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ APPROACHES ON IT

Aysun Nüket Elçi

Abstract. The purpose of the study is to determine students’ attitudes towards mathematics, to investigate these attitudes according to the different variables, and to reveal the impacts of mathematics teachers’ approaches and in–class activities on the students’ attitudes towards mathematics. The study was conducted with the high school students from Turkey. This study was a mixed of the quantitative and qualitative methods. The data obtained from the scales named Mathematics Attitude Scale (MAS) and Mathematics Teachers’ Approaches Questionnaire (MTAQ) and the semi–structured interviews. The MAS was used to determine the students’attitudes towards mathematics and the MTAQ was used to assign mathematics teachers’ activities and approaches in their lessons. The application of the scales conducted with the 450 students (253 female and 197 male) and the interviews were carried out with the 25 students chosen from the samples. The quantitative data were analyzed by using the statistical software and the qualitative data were analyzed by using the content analysis. The study showed that the students’ attitudes towards mathematics differed by, gender, field, and mathematics score but not by grade and that the teachers’ approaches and activities impacted the students’ attitudes towards mathematics in some aspects.

Key words: Attitudes towards mathematics, high school students, mathematics teachers’ approaches.

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