An examination of the relationship between secondary school students’ abstract thinking skills, self-efficacy perceptions and attitudes towards mathematics

Abstract

This study aims to examine whether there is a relationship between abstract thinking skills, self-efficacy perceptions and attitude towards mathematics and how these variables predict mathematics achievement. The study was conducted with 198 eighth-grade students who were selected by random sampling and the relational screening model was used. For data collection, the tools of “Abstract Thinking Test in Mathematics”, “Self-Efficacy Perception Scale towards Mathematics”, “Mathematics Attitude Scale” and Mathematics course notes of students were resorted to. According to the findings, it was concluded that there were significant relationships between students’ abstract thinking skills, self-efficacy perceptions and attitudes towards mathematics, and these variables explained 37% of the variance in mathematics achievement. There was no significant difference in mathematics achievement between the groups according to the type of school, while it was found that the scores of the students' abstract thinking skills, attitude towards mathematics and self-efficacy perceptions differed in favor of the students studying in non-boarding secondary school. In addition, no significant difference was observed between the groups in terms of students' mathematics achievement according to their boarding status. It was found that there were significant differences in terms of the other three variables. Suggestions were made to increase mathematics achievement, especially in boarding secondary schools, and it was also offered to increase the feasibility of the environment of the boarding secondary schools.