Abstract

For over thirty years, researchers have been investigating students’ attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics. In the present study, 113 responses were received from math students from Class 6 to Class 12. The Mathematics Attitudes and Perceptions Survey (MAPS) was used to assess the perception of the students’ right at school level and identify the difficulties faced by school children in understanding mathematics. The demography of the respondents showed more female students (58.4%) who did not get any awards in mathematics (73.4%). The results indicated that most of the mathematics students in school had an attitude for mathematics, persistence on problem solving especially their use in daily life and high motivation and interest in mathematics. The relationship among the components indicated strong correlation between age of students and class. There is a significant and positive correlation between component ‘Answers’ with all other components except ‘Real World’ and ‘Interest’. ‘Sense Making’ had significant and positive correlation with all other components. Similarly, ‘Persistence in problem solving’ too had significant and positive correlations with all the components except ‘Real World’. There is strong correlation among ‘Persistence’, ‘Sense making’, ‘Interest’ and ‘Answers’. The present study helps in identifying and guiding students to pursue mathematics based on their attitude and beliefs towards the subject.

Keywords: attitude towards mathematics, confidence, growth mindset, mathematics education, perceptions of mathematics, problem solving, real world