Abstract
This study explored the mathematics beliefs of students enrolled in a first year calculus class at a Midwestern university in the United States. The Indiana Mathematics Belief Scale was administered to 162 students enrolled in a first year calculus class during the first week of school. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to examine the factor structure of the survey instrument. Five factors were extracted: Effort, Usefulness, Difficult problems, Understanding, and Steps. Students’ responses were analyzed for inter-item correlation and internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s α). The results were compared with similar studies conducted by Kloosterman and Stage (1992) as well as Berkaliev and Kloosterman (2009). The reliability obtained in this study was consistent with the previous studies. In particular, the Steps subscale was quite low (0.52). It might therefore make sense to drop the Steps subscale in future studies.
Highlights
The past three decades have witnessed several studies on students’ beliefs
The Bartlett test of sphericity was statistically significant (χ2 = 1658.66, df = 406, p < 0). This confirmed that the matrix was not an identity matrix and was suitable for performing an exploratory factor analysis (EFA)
The study sought to identify factor dimensions of the Indiana Mathematics Beliefs Scale administered to students enrolled in a Calculus class in a Midwestern University in the United States
Summary
The past three decades have witnessed several studies on students’ beliefs. These studies have focused on students perspectives on the nature of knowledge and how knowledge is constructed (see, for example, Pintrich, 2002; Pehkonen & Hannula, 2004). Ma and Kishor (1997) posited that there exists “a cognitive component to every affective objective and an affective component to every cognitive objective” (p.26) and this suggests that any investigation into reasons for non-participation in mathematics must include an examination of both affective and cognitive domains. Other scholars such as McLeod (1992) noted that student beliefs about mathematics can be classified into four categories: the difficulty and rule-based nature of mathematics; the self and self-confidence in learning mathematics and attributions for failure or success; how mathematics should be taught; and the social context for learning mathematics
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