You are on page 1of 11

Introduction

Students’ attitudes towards learning, and their behavior in and outside of


school, have a considerable impact on their performance. This chapter
examines the strength of the associations between low performance and the
amount of time and effort students invest in learning, students’ perseverance
and motivation in completing their schoolwork, and students’ sense of their
own academic abilities and well-being at school. Students’ attitudes towards
school and learning are important well beyond their influence on academic
and professional success. Feeling safe, socially connected and happy at
school should be considered ends in themselves, especially since school is a
primary venue for socialization. The importance of students’ well-being is
reflected in the unique importance parents give to a pleasant, active and safe
environment when choosing a school for their child (OECD, 2015a), and in the
strong consensus among teachers that the social and emotional development
of students is as important as their acquisition of knowledge and skills (OECD,
2013a). New analyses in this chapter focus on low performers’ attitudes
towards learning, and how these
attitudes may differ from those held by better-performing students. It is vital for
education systems to understand the role attitudes play in student learning,
particularly for low performers, if only because fostering positive attitudes can
result in significant improvements in performance at little cost (Dweck, 2006).
Particularly in contexts of severe budgetary constraints, the value of greater
student engagement, perseverance, motivation and self-confidence cannot be
overstated. The results are based on correlational evidence and only identify
patterns of association between students’ attitudes and educational outcomes.
Any causal claims in this chapter should be
downplayed or considered inexact
Objectives of the study

The main purpose of this study was to identify the effect of emotional
disposition on student’s attitude towards learning mathematics in 1st year
student who took mathematics subject in Agusan del Sur State College of
Agriculture and Technology;

Specifically, it intended to attain the following objectives:

1. To assess the level student’s attitude towards learning mathematics among


student who took mathematics subject in terms of

1.1 Self-confidence

1.2 Value

1.3 Enjoyment

1.4 Motivation

2. To assess the level emotional disposition of the student who took


mathematics subject

2.1 Resilience – emotional strength

2.2 Resourcefulness – cognitive capability

2.3 Reflection – strategic awareness

2.4 Relating – social sophistication

3 to determine the effect of emotional disposition and student’s attitude in


learning mathematics

Significance of the study


This research serves as an additional source of information on
identifying the effect of emotional disposition on student’s attitude towards
learning mathematics in 1st year student who only took mathematics subject.
Since, emotional disposition is one reason of the learning difficulties of the
student who took mathematics subject.

Scope and limitations to the study

The study was focused on helping the students to evaluate their


attitude towards learning mathematics and find out how you see yourself
when you are trying to do that are new or difficult. And this is for those 1st
year student who took mathematics subject in Agusan Del Sur State College
of Agriculture and Technology.

Time and Place of the Study

The study was conducted during the Second semester of the school
2018-2019.Specifically, from month of january2019 to February 2019 in
Agusan del sur State College of Agriculture and Technology (ASSCAT),
Bunawan, Agusan del Sur.

The Agusan del Sur State college of Agriculture and


Technology(ASSCAT)

is a state-controlled college in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur, Philippines.


ASSCAT started as a settlement known as Manobo farm School for the
people of Upper Agusan in 1908, to provide basic education and upgrade their
farming skills. It later became the Bunawan National Agricultural
School(BUNAS) on June 17, 1984 through R.A 301 sponsored by former
congressman Marcos L. Calo. Om June 21, 1969 it was changed into
Southern Agusan National Agricultural college (SANAC) by virtue of R.A 5917
Passed by former Congressman Jose C. Aquino.
Review of related Literature

Student attitude towards learning mathematics

Today, there are a multitude of issues in the educational system, among which
the problem of educational failure in the lesson of mathematics leads to the
loss of financial and human resources in the society in different ways; this
issue imposes many adverse educational and mental consequences on
students and their families (Zaki, 2011). The findings indicate that one of the
most effective factors on the attitude of students is that they understand the
application of mathematics in their real life. If the students consider the
mathematics as a lesson that is not related to their real life, in this situation,
they dislike mathematics and that is one of the greatest obstacles to the
learning of this lesson (Khakbaz & Moussapour, 2008). Numerous findings
have shown that not only the educational achievement in mathematics is
influenced by knowledge structures and the process of information
processing, but it is also associated with motivational factors such as beliefs,
attitudes, values and anxiety. Based on this, a close relationship was found
between high level of motivation, positive attitude, low-level anxiety and
performance in mathematics (Marchis, 2011). Therefore, emotion and feeling
are important topics in the learning of mathematics that can create factors
such as mathematics phobia and anxiety, joy of mathematics, self-confidence
in mathematics and success or failure in mathematics (Rabab’h, 2015). Also,
Aiken and Dreger (1961) showed that the attitude towards mathematics is the
predictor of educational achievement in mathematics. Considering the
importance of the attitude of students towards math lesson and its impact on
their educational accomplishment, it is necessary to investigate factors that
are associated with it. According to the results of conducted studies, one of
the factors that can be related to students’ attitudes towards mathematics is
“goal adjustment strategies” (Midgley, 2014). Causes of motivation can be
internal, such as personal values or interests (intrinsic motivation) or they can
be external, like rewards or punishments (extrinsic motivation). Attribution
theory of motivation suggests that, students' explanations for causes of
academic success or failure can be categorized by the following dimensions:
locus, referring to whether the causes come from the individual or from other
people; stability, referring to whether the causes change over time; and
controllability, whether the individual is able to control the cause (Weiner, as
cited in Kloosterman, 1988). Students' reasons for the cause of success or
failure affect their motivation to attempt academic tasks. ...

In addition, Mohamed and Waheed [5] when reviewing literature aimed at


understanding attitudes and the influences on their development in relation to
differences between students, identified three groups of factors that play a
vital role in influencing student attitudes: factors associated with the students
themselves (e.g., mathematical achievement, anxiety, self-efficacy and self-
concept, motivation, and experiences at school); factors associated with the
school, teacher, and teaching (e.g., teaching materials, classroom
management, teacher knowledge, attitudes towards math’s, guidance,
beliefs); finally factors from the home environment and society (e.g.,
educational background, parental expectations).

Attitudes can be seen as more or less positive. A positive attitude towards


mathematics reflects a positive emotional disposition in relation to the subject
and, in a similar way, a negative attitude towards mathematics relates to a
negative emotional disposition [9]. These emotional dispositions have an
impact on an individual’s behavior, as one is likely to achieve better in a
subject that one enjoys, has confidence in or finds useful [7]. For this reason,
positive attitudes towards mathematics are desirable since they may influence
one’s willingness to learn and also the benefits one can derive from
mathematics instruction [7].

The conceptions, attitudes, and expectations of students regarding


Mathematics and Mathematics teaching have been considered to be very
significant factors underlying their school experience and achievement
(Borasi, 1990; Shoenfeld, 1985). In general, the concepts students hold about
Mathematics determine how they approach the subject. In many cases,
students have been found to approach Mathematics as procedural and rule-
oriented. This prevents them from experiencing the richness of Mathematics
and the many approaches that could be used to develop competence in the
subject. Attitude can also be gender related. There are many who hold the
view that boys do better in Mathematics than girls. This belief tends to affect
the attitude of girls towards Mathematics. Farooq and Shah (2008) in a study
of secondary school students in Pakistan found that there was no significant
difference in confidence of male and female students towards Mathematics at
secondary school level. They rather found that students’ success in
Mathematics depended on attitude towards the subject. Nonetheless, some
studies have found gender difference in students’ confidence in Mathematics.
Compared to boys, girls lacked confidence, had debilitating causal
attributional patterns, perceived Mathematics as a male domain and were
anxious about Mathematics (Casey, Nuttal & Pezaris, 2001). In thestudy, girls
were found to have lower self-confidence in Mathematics than boys.

Emotional disposition of the student

Learning mathematics became a challenge for most of the students. Either


lack of motivation or learned hopelessness make many students to say “I am
not good in math” before they even try to solve mathematical problems. We
consider that this general issue is a matter of attitudes toward mathematics
rather than a matter of lack of capabilities. That is why we are trying to figure
out the future teacher students` attitudes toward mathematics and to make
some connections with their emotional life. The research shows an increasing
recognition that affective factors play a critical role in the teaching and
learning mathematics. (McLeod, 1992, 1994). The importance of affective
factors in partially explaining individual differences in the learning of
mathematics is well recognized, too. It is recognized that the role of motivation
and emotions is crucial to learning (Min Kim, Won Park and Cozart, 2014):
when students lack motivation, their learning process is rarely initiated
(Bandura, 1986; Schunk, 1991apud Min Kim et al., 2014) and when students
feel hopeless, their learning process is easily discontinued.Hannula (2002)
considers the observable category ‘student’s attitude towards mathematics’ as
being separated into four different evaluative processes: 1) the emotions the
student experiences during mathematics related activities; 2) the emotions
that the student automatically associates with the concept ‘mathematics’;
3)evaluations of situations that the student expects to follow as a
consequence of doing mathematics; and 4) the value of mathematics-related
goals in the student’s global goal structure. Emotions are considered the most
fundamental process, which underlies every expression of evaluation in one
way or another (Hannulla, 2002). While a student is engaged in a
mathematical activity, there is a continuous unconscious evaluation of the
situation with respect to personal goals. This evaluation is represented as an
emotion: proceeding towards goals induces positive emotions while obstacles
that block the progress may induce anger, fear, sadness or other unpleasant
emotions. (Hannula, 2002, p.29) The self-efficacy is about the people’s beliefs
regarding the required abilities for fulfilling established tasks and for
reaching the objectives (Lemeni, Miclea, 2004). The self-efficacy brings out
the feeling of having control in one’s own life, of making predictions and
controlling the life events, so a better adjustment is resulted. The self -
efficacy influences the thinking patterns, the motivational process (attribution
types), affective processes, selection processes. The development of the self-
efficacy is influenced by two factors: capacity of symbolic thinking (to
understand the relation cause –effect) and the capacity of self-assessment
and self-reflection (Maddux, 2005). One could develop the self-efficacy
through personal experience, through observing the experience of others and
through considering the others comments about their capacity of doing (Lee,
L., 2005).

In mathematics, it is a usual practice for mathematicians to use metaphors to


represent and think through mathematical problems and make connections
(Sfard, 1994). Pedagogically, metaphors can be effective instructional aids in
making sense of mathematics. Many metaphors have been used to teach
mathematics, but for a metaphor to be effective, one needs to be familiar with
the construct to which the new knowledge is being compared. Because of
this, some metaphors may be more appropriate than others (English, 1997).
In fact, the power of a metaphor lies in its ability to help a person make sense
of new conceptions in terms of already existing conceptions (Lakoff &
Johnson, 1980; Presmeg, 1992). Thus, metaphors, used appropriately, can
facilitate both conceptual understanding and problem solving. In recent years,
there has been an increased interest in using metaphors as a research tool to
understand the processes of thinking and problem solving (e.g.,
Borgman,1999; Cameron, 2002; diSessa, 1993; Hsu, 2005; Martins &
Ogborn,1997; Pimm, 1981; Sfard, 1994). For example, using semi-structured
interviews, Chiu (2002) examined the way novices (middle school students)
and experts (students in a master’s program who completed at least two
years of college mathematics) solved three problems involving negative
numbers. He found that both novices and experts used metaphors to reason,
understand, and solve these problems. However, the experts articulated more
metaphors and used them more selectively, while the novices used
metaphors less skillfully but more frequently. These studies showed that
metaphors can be a powerful tool to understand the processes of thinking and
problem solving.

Methodology

Research design
Descriptive research methodology was utilized in this study to
understand the percentage of units in the specified population of those
student who took mathematics subject in ASSCAT for 1st year student to their
learning in mathematics. It is effected design to understand the effect of
Emotional disposition on student’s attitude towards learning Mathematics.
Hence, it helps to get the accurate statistical result without really affecting the
respondent’s daily activities.

Research Respondents

The researchers utilized random sampling to get the respondents from


1st year students who took mathematics subject.
The respondents of the study were the 30 1st year student who were
enrolled any mathematics subject specially in BS- Applied mathematics
student during the second semester in Agusan Del Sur State College of
Agriculture and Technology(ASSCAT).
Research Instruments

The questionnaire consists of three parts. The first part was the
Student’s Attitude Towards Learning Mathematics. This was subdivided into 4
section (1) Self-Confidence, (2) Value, (3) Enjoyment, (4) Motivation. All items
are answered using a 5-point scale (5=strongly agree, 4=agree, 3=Neutral,
2=Disagree, 1=strongly disagree)
The second part was the Emotional Disposition of the student. It also
subdivided into 4 section: (1) RESILIENCE- emotional strength, (2)
RESOURCEFULNESS-cognitive capability, (3) REFLECTION-strategic
awareness, (4) RELATING- social Sophistication. And it can be answered also
in 5-point scale (5=strongly agree, 4=agree, 3=Neutral, 2=Disagree,
1=strongly disagree).
These adapted instrument went through a little modification to suit to
the interest of the study.

Interpretation scale in student’s attitude in Learning Mathematics


Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers asked permission to Program Adviser to conduct a survey among


student who enrolled mathematics subject specially BS-applied mathematics for 1st
year only regarding the student Attitudes towards learning Mathematics and Emotional
disposition in Agusan Del Sur state college of Agriculture and Technology. To maximize
the time for data gathering and not disrupt the respondent’s classes, leisure time of the
students was used as answering time completion of the Questionnaire. After the
Questionnaires were answered, the data gathered was tabulated and analyzed using
the computation application.

You might also like