Abstract
Learners' participation in mathematics decreases during their transition from primary to high school. This is despite adolescents' cognitive growth equipping them with enhanced cognitive ability [1];[2] to learn mathematics. Hence low participation in mathematics does not result from cognitive deficiency. Rather, lack of motivation to learn mathematics may be the factor [3]. According to self-determination theory, motivation results from nurturing three human basic needs: autonomy, connectedness and competence [4]. Since identity is linked to autonomy, identities in mathematics learning impacts motivation to learn the subject. Hence, this paper reports on the action research intervention which took advantage of adolescents' preoccupation with identity formation. In line with continuous cycles of action research, the intervention is the pilot of the ongoing study that seeks to enhance mathematics learning by utilizing non-cognitive factors that resonate with the characteristics of adolescents. The paper reports on how the autonomy to form their identities in mathematics learning, impacted the adolescents' learning and attitude towards mathematics. Qualitative results show that learners lived up to their self-formed identities and this enhanced their motivation to learn mathematics. Further studies that forge positive identities in mathematics classrooms to enhance motivation to learn mathematics are recommended.
Highlights
Participation in mathematics for learners in high school declines
This paper reports on the intervention that assisted learners to self-define themselves positively, so as to form positive identities in mathematics learning
Even though in general mathematics is a failed and feared subject, when learners were given an opportunity to define themselves, they define themselves in the positive light, for example, “mathematics conquers”! These self-definitions were reflections of self-beliefs and they carried them through all mathematics learning sessions as they always tried to live by their names
Summary
Participation in mathematics for learners in high school declines. For example, Dosey, Mullis, Lindquist and Chamber [5] found that children tend to enjoy mathematics in primary school but this level of enjoyment tends to fall dramatically when children progress into and through high school. Wigfield and Eccles [6] revealed that American surveys reported that only half of high school learners enroll for mathematics courses beyond grade 10. This is a consequence of students’ reports of uneasiness, worry, and anxiety related to mathematics increases during the early adolescent years [6]. This problem has persisted in the twenty first century. Byrne [7] found that there is low participation and performance in mathematics for high school learners. Highlighting the seriousness of low performance in mathematics by teens in the US, Kronholz [9] called it an economic time bomb
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