Arts and Science Stream Students’ Mathematical Problem Solving Strategies and Perspectives

Abstract

The interest of Malaysian students at upper secondary level towards science stream has declined over the years. The preference is towards arts stream as compared to science since there exists a perception that doing arts is easier than science. However, in Malaysian education system, mathematics is a compulsory subject for all students at upper secondary level. Therefore, it is crucial to study the differences of students in these two streams (i.e. science and art) in terms of mathematical problem solving aspect. This research aimed to explore the preferred problem solving strategies between students in the science and art streams and also to determine their perspectives towards mathematical problem solving. A descriptive quantitative design was used in this study. The study involved 60 students (30 science stream students and 30 arts stream students) from a secondary school in Kluang district, Malaysia. The students were given two non-routine mathematics problems in order to study their preferred problem solving strategies. Students were then given a set of questionnaire in order to investigate their perspectives towards mathematical problem solving. Descriptive statistics showed that students in the science stream applied scientific strategies in answering the problems such as by making a systematic list, and guess and check strategies. Meanwhile students in the arts stream preferred to use their imagination and creativity such as by drawing while answering the mathematics questions.