Interest In Mathematics Research Articles

Interest and Academic Achievement of Students in Senior Secondary School Mathematics as Determined by Teachers' Self-Efficacy

This study examined the degree to which Teacher’s Self-efficacy determined students’ interest and academic achievement in Mathematics. The study adopted correlational research design. The study was guided by two (2) research question and two (2) hypotheses. The population of the study consist of 8 Mathematics Teachers and 5125 Senior Secondary II (SS2) students. A sample of 29 mathematics teachers and 400 students was used for the study. Four instruments were employed for data collection in this study. They are Teachers’ Self-efficacy scale (TSS), Students Mathematics Interest Scale (SMIS) which was developed by researcher and students’ Mathematics Achievement Pro-forma (SMAP). Face validity as well as construct validity were used to the instruments. The reliability indices of the Students Mathematics Interest Scale (SMIS) and Teachers Self-efficacy scale (TSS) were computed using Cronbach's Alpha (α). Regression analysis was performed to analyse the data, and regression ANOVA was utilised to test the hypotheses at the significance level of 0.05. The study's results, among other things, demonstrated that students’ interest in mathematics is determined by teachers self-efficacy (11.1%), found significant (p> 0. 05) determinant of students Interest in Mathematics, it also showed that students’ achievement in Mathematics is determined by teachers self-efficacy (11.2%), found to be significant determinants of students achievement in mathematics. Conclusion were drawn and implications of the findings of the study was highlighted. It was recommended that Teachers should strive to develop high self-efficacy, positive aversion and low anxiety towards the teaching of Mathematics in schools as to boost students’ interest and achievement in mathematics; Government agencies and school administrators should train in-service and pre- service teachers for self-efficacy to enhance students’ interest and academic achievement.

Factors Influencing Mathematical Ability of Grade 6 Pupils

It is crucial for educators and policymakers to comprehend the elements influencing sixth-grade children’s mathematics abilities if they are to successfully support students in their learning process. In this premise, this study analyzed the extent of factors influencing the mathematical ability of Grade 6 learners in one elementary school in Bacolod City Division during the school year 2022-2023. The variables included in this study are sex, parent’s education, and family income. To determine the extent of factors influencing the student’s mathematical ability, the following areas are considered: learners’ motivation, parental support, teachers’ instructional skills, and learning resources. Data for this descriptive study was collected from 101 Grade 6 pupils- respondents using a self-made survey questionnaire that has passed the rigorous tests of validity and reliability. Results show that most respondents are female, and parents are at the elementary and high school level only, with Php 12,000.00 and above as the Family Income. The extent of factors influencing the mathematical ability of grade 6 learners according to learners’ motivation and Parental support and when group according to variables shows moderate extent except for parent’s highest educational attainment in of learner’s motivation that shows great extent while in teacher’s instructional skills, and learning resources and when group according to variables shows great extent. Also, results show that there is no significant difference among all areas. To foster students’ mathematical proficiency and interest, this paper calls for teachers to offer varied exercises and activities, for parents to engage children in math tasks at home, maintain communication through regular meetings and group chats, and teachers should continuously enhance instructional skills, ensure access to organized learning resources, and provide ample time and supplementary materials for concept mastery. Keywords: Education, mathematical ability, parental support, teachers’ competence, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines.

STEM career expectations across four diverse countries: motivation to learn mathematics mediates the effects of gender and math classroom environments

BackgroundWe tested the broad generality of a model for predicting 9th–10th grade students’ STEM career expectations by age 30, focusing on hard science, mathematics and engineering professions only, known for driving innovation, research and development. The model’s predictors included motivation to learn mathematics, gender, and math classroom environments (disciplinary climate, teacher support and instructional strategies fostering conceptual understanding).MethodsWe used data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022. Four countries were selected based on the percentage of students expecting STEM careers, representing high vs. low groups (Qatar and Morocco vs. Czech Republic and Lithuania, respectively). Analysis began with computing correlations between the variables, followed by path analyses for each country to determine both direct and indirect effects of the predictors on students’ STEM career expectations.ResultsWe found that motivation to learn mathematics not only directly predicted STEM career expectations but also mediated the influence of the remaining variables: gender (boys show higher motivation to learn math), and math classroom environments (students in well-disciplined math classes with supportive teachers who employ instructional strategies fostering math reasoning also demonstrate higher motivation to learn math). Remarkably, our model consistently demonstrated robustness across all four countries, despite their significant economic, ethnic, and religious diversity.ConclusionsTheoretically, the model reveals that 9th–10th grade students’ transitory long-term STEM career expectations are shaped by their interest in mathematics, their perceived importance of the subject, confidence in their self-efficacy to succeed in math tasks, perceptions of classroom disciplinary climate, teacher support, and their exposure to instructional strategies aimed at enhancing math reasoning. Practically, it suggests widespread potential for informing interventions aimed at increasing student motivation to pursue STEM careers through improved mathematics education practices.

Empirical Study on Attitude towards Making Decision to Select Mathematics for First-Degree Program

Recently debatable arguments have existed regarding the perceived lack of numerical skills among the graduates from the Humanities and Social Sciences. In response to this concern, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculties of Art in national universities in Sri Lanka have taken measures to more opportunities to undergraduates to bolster their numerical proficiency. This is achieved through the incorporation of mathematics course units for their degree programs along with the main subject streams. The study focuses on factors that affect the undergraduates’ attitudes towards making the decision to select the subject mathematics for their first-degree program. A sample survey was carried out using structured questionnaire and stratified random sampling technique was utilized to select a sample size of 352 from the undergraduates belongs to Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in University of Sri Jayewardenepura. The binary logistic regression model is utilized, and the study revealed that self efficacy, mathematical anxiety, and interest in mathematics are significantly affected students’ attitudes on counting mathematics course units for their degree program. The student who has self-efficacy is 1.03 times more likely to select mathematics course unit at the first academic year than other students. A unit increase of mathematics anxiety with all other factors remaining constant, the odds of a student selecting the mathematics course decreased by 11.2%. When one-unit increases in the interest in mathematics of students the odds of selecting mathematics course unit is 1.06 times more likely to than other peers. These insights suggest that educational institutes, particularly those in the humanities and social sciences, should prioritize enhancing students ‘numerical skills. This can be achieved by providing valuable consideration aimed at refining their curriculum and support mechanism, increasing awareness programmes about the importance of studying mathematics course units within their degree programmes and conducting programmes to reduce mathematics anxiety while fostering an increased interest in mathematics.

Enhancing practical skills of TVET students using mathematics as a tool: A case study in some selected TVET schools in Kwahu

Ghana, a developing nation, is no exception to the growing global popularity of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) education. However, the idea of making TVET more applicable and work-oriented in Ghana has only been briefly considered. This investigation examines how mathematics is used as a tool to enhance the practical skills of TVET students. 316 respondents, consisting of 234 males and 82 females, were chosen as the target group by a straightforward random selection procedure. Using the purposive sampling technique, second-year students from three TVET institutions in Kwahu were chosen as the target respondents. For the purpose of investigation, an exploratory survey approach was utilized. Typically, questionnaires were administered to a sample of students at a specific period in order to record their attitudes, beliefs, actions, perceptions, or qualities for descriptive analysis. The data-collection techniques employed in this study, which concentrated on aspects including TVET students’ attitudes toward mathematics (ATTI), TVET students’ interest in mathematics, and TVET students’ practical skills, were modified from those used in earlier studies conducted by other researchers. The acquired data was examined making use of Amos version 23’s structural equation modeling software. The study’s findings showed that TVET students’ attitudes about mathematics significantly influenced their interest in the subject. The outcomes also revealed that ATTI had a positive effect and were statistically significant for their practical skills.

Effect of Kinesthetic Learning on Students’ Interest and Achievement in Mathematics

One of the pertinent reasons for poor academic achievement in Mathematics is fundamentally linked to the application of ineffective teaching methods by teachers to impact knowledge to learners. This study adopts a quasi-experimental pre-test post-test research design to examine the efficacy of kinesthetic learning on interest and achievement in Mathematics. Four research questions were raised to guide the study and four hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The sample comprises 101 Junior Secondary School students drawn from two secondary schools in Bekwarra Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. Two intact classes were randomly selected from each school and assigned to experimental and control group. Data for the study were sourced using a modified Mathematics Interest Inventory (MII) and mathematics achievement test designed by the researchers tagged Students’ Mathematics Achievement Test (SMAT). Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The findings revealed a high post-test interest cluster mean of 3.10 (above the decision benchmark of 2.50) and also a higher post-test mean achievement score with (Mean = 20.82; Standard Deviation = 3.63) for students in the experimental group compared to the control group. The result also indicated that both male and female students taught mathematics using kinesthetic learning in the experimental group had positive interest and achievement after exposure to the treatment. The test of the hypotheses indicated that there is significant difference in interest and achievement between students taught mathematics using kinesthetic learning and conventional method, whereas there is no significant difference on the interest and achievement of male and female students taught mathematics using kinesthetic learning. The study concluded that kinesthetic learning has a positive effect on interest and achievement in mathematics; and that gender is not a sole determinant of good academic performance or interest in mathematics but teaching method. The study recommended that mathematics teachers should adopt kinesthetic learning or play way method in teaching because of its relevance in improving learners’ interest and achievement.

Impact of Parent Interest in Mathematics and Students Mathematics Interest on Student Mathematics Achievement

A student's academic and cognitive development is greatly influenced by their mathematics education, and the importance of parental participation in promoting this interest cannot be estimated. The study aims to evaluate the impact of parental interest in mathematics and student’s mathematics interest on students’ mathematics achievement. The study employed quantitative research method with the used of structured questionnaire for collecting data. The sample of the study comprised of 200 first-year students from four selected senior high school in Ghana-Kumasi. The study findings revealed that, parent interest and student interest in mathematics had a statistically significant direct positive impact on students’ mathematics achievement. Moreover, there relationship between parental interest and students’ interest in mathematics had a positive effect and was statistically significant.

DEFINING THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL PLATFORMS IN MATHEMATICS IN THE EFFECTIVE TRAINING OF FUTURE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS

The present study analyzes the results of a survey of teachers and students designed to identify the preferences and needs of universities in using educational platforms in mathematics to study the subject «Elementary Mathematics». The aim of the study was to determine the preferred characteristics and functionality of mathematics learning platforms that can contribute to effectivelearning and increase interest in mathematics for future mathematics teachers. To achieve this goal, questionnaires were developed, which were distributed among mathematics teachers and first-year students in the specialty «Mathematics» when teaching the subject «Elementary Mathematics» and third and fourth-year students when teaching the subject «Methods of teaching mathematics». The questionnaires included questions about preferences in using educational platforms in mathematics, the level of comfort andperception of educational material when working with technologies, preferred learning formats and expected learning outcomes. The analysis of the obtained results allowed us to identify the key principles that should be taken into account when using educational platforms in mathematics to study the subject «Elementary Mathematics» at the university. Following these principles contributes to the use of educational platforms in mathematics, and as a result, to improving the quality of mathematical education at the university and improving the learning ability of future mathematics teachers.

Pengembangan Media Pembelajaran Matematika Berbasis Aplikasi Android Menggunakan Power Point dan iSpring pada Materi Himpunan untuk Siswa Kelas VII SMP Swasta Swadaya Tarus

The number of smartphone users is increasing across various demographics, including students. With the presence of smartphones among students, it should be able to assist learners in enhancing their interest and understanding of mathematics effectively, anytime and anywhere. Therefore, this research aims to develop a mathematics learning media based on an Android application using PowerPoint and iSpring for set theory material for Grade VII students at Swadaya Tarus Private Junior High School that is valid, practical, and effective. The method employed in this research is research and development using the ADDIE development model: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Data for this research were obtained through interviews, questionnaires, and tests. The results of this research show that the set theory class application meets the criteria for valid, practical, and effective learning media for set theory material. The average total validity score from three validators is 4.34, indicating that the Android-based mathematics learning media falls into the valid category. The average practicality score from the large class teacher is 4.38, and the responses from the small-scale trial students were 4.6, while the responses from the large-scale trial students were 4.67, placing the Android-based mathematics learning media in the practical category. Additionally, the pass rate for small-scale trial students was 80%, and the pass rate for the large-scale trial students was 70%, indicating that the developed Android-based mathematics learning media falls into the effective category.

A qualitative study on anxiety level, life satisfaction and students’ mathematics performance in positive education

Positive education, often referred to as the science of happiness, focuses on enhancing the quality of life by fostering happiness, peace, and adherence to human values. This research is a crucial part of initiatives aimed at advancing positive education in schools situated in insecure and challenging communities. The students' experiences related to their anxiety levels, life satisfaction, and mathematics performance were categorized and analyzed. Additionally, the experiences of the teachers who used the researcher-developed positive education module were also examined. Before the intervention, themes such as fear, anxiety, irritation, palpitations, loneliness, feelings of being unloved or unlucky, and low academic performance were identified and coded. These experiences were confirmed through interviews with teachers. After the intervention, new themes emerged, including increased calmness, satisfaction, contentment, motivation, security, and happiness. Students appeared more relaxed, enthusiastic about attending school, and visibly more cheerful. The students also demonstrated a heightened interest in learning mathematics.

Game Technologies for STEM/STEAM Education in Kindergartens

The article considers the need to apply innovative educational models in modern education. A brief scientific review is made of the emergence of the STEM/STEAM education, the latter currently being one of the priority approaches for application in educational policies around the world. The basic integrating factor for the STEM and STEAM education is games. Through games, children apply their real-life experience, and they favour their overall cognitive development. Game technologies for STEM/STEAM education in kindergartens are aimed at developing the skills of modern children for critical and creative thinking, design and coding, communication and interest in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. The connection between the traditions and innovations of the more-than-a-century-old tradition of preschool pedagogy in Bulgaria is emphasized.

Existence and uniqueness result for reaction-diffusion model of diffusive population dynamics

The present work investigates a convolution type nonlinear integrodifferential equation with diffusion. This type of equations represents not only pure mathematical interest, but also is widely used in various applications, especially in wide range of problems on population dynamics arising in biology. The existence of a parametric family of travelling wave solutions as well as the uniqueness of the solution in certain class of bounded continuous functions on R \mathbb {R} is proved. The study investigates also some important properties as well as asymptotic behaviour of constructed solutions. These results are then used to derive a new uniform estimate for the deviation between successive iterations, which provides us with a strong tool to control the number of iterations on our way of computing the desired numerical approximation of the exact solution. Finally, we apply our theoretical results to two well-known population problems modelled by delayed reaction-diffusion equation: Diffusion model for spatial-temporal spread of epidemics and stage structured population model.

하브루타 토론 활동이 예비유아교사의 수학 교수 효능감과 수학적 태도에 미치는 영향

Objectives This study was conducted to analyze the effects 0f Havruta discussion activities on pre-service early childhood teacher's mathematics teaching efficacy and mathematical attitude. Methods The study was conducted by selecting 13 and 15 students from early childhood education and 3rd graders, respectively, as an experimental group and a comparative group. And mathematics teaching efficacy and mathematical attitude tests were conducted on the study's students through pre and post tests. Results According to the results of this study, First, the experimental group, which was a group of pre-child teachers who conducted Havruta discussion activities, showed significantly higher mathematics teaching efficacy than the comparative group. There was also a statistically significant difference between the results expectation of mathematics teaching and the belief in mathematics teaching ability, a sub-factor of mathematics teaching efficacy. Second, the mathematical attitude of the pre-child teacher group who conducted the Havruta discussion activity was significantly higher than that of the pre-child teacher group who did not. Among the sub-factors of mathematical attitude, the experimental group's score was significantly higher than that of the comparative group in the case of interest in mathematics, motivation for mathematics, and self-concept in mathematics, and the experimental group scored significantly lower than the comparative group in the case of anxiety about mathematics. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the value of mathematics. Conclusions In summary, the results of this study show that Havruto discussion activities significantly enhance the mathematics teaching efficacy and mathematical attitude of pre-child teachers. These findings demonstrate the value of actively utilizing Havruta discussion activities to enhance the mathematics teaching efficacy and mathematical attitude of pre-child teachers.

EFEKTIFITAS PENGGUNAAN APLIKASI QUIZIZZ TERHADAP MINAT DAN HASIL BELAJAR MATEMATIKA SISWA

This research aims to determine the effectiveness of using the Quizizz application on students' interest and learning outcomes in mathematics on exponents and root forms at Muhammadiyah 48 Medan Private Middle School. The background to this research focuses on the low interest and learning outcomes of students in mathematics subjects, which are often considered difficult and boring by many students. The method used is quantitative with a pre-experimental research design, namely one group pretest posttest design where the sample consists of 50 students selected using total sampling techniques. The results of the research show that there is a significant increase in student interest and learning outcomes after using the Quizizz application, namely scores The average interest in learning mathematics after using the Quizizz application is 76.54 with a gain value in the medium category of 0.448 and the average score for learning mathematics after using the Quizzizz application is 78.60 with a gain value in the medium category 0.478. The paired sample t-test produced a significance value of less than 0.05, namely 0.001, indicating that the use of the Quizizz application was effective in increasing students' interest and learning outcomes in mathematics. So it can be concluded that the integration of technology in learning, especially through the Quizizz application, has been proven to be able to make mathematics learning more interesting, fun and interactive, thereby increasing students' interest and learning outcomes in mathematics.

The Improvement of Students’ Mathematical Communication Ability and Learning Interest on Junior High School through The Application of Reciprocal Teaching

This research is an experiment which aims to examine improving the mathematical communication skills and interest in learning of junior high school students in set material by implementing the reciprocal teaching learning model. The problem behind this research is that students' mathematical communication skills and interest in learning in set material are still in the low category, so learning alternatives are needed that can develop students' mathematical communication skills and interest in learning. The research method used is Pre-Experimental with a one group pretest-posttest research design. The population in this study were all class VII students in one of the private junior high schools in Karawang Regency. The sample in this research was 25 students with a purposive sampling technique. The instrument used is a communication skills test and a non-test in the form of a learning interest questionnaire. Based on the analysis of the data obtained, it shows that students' mathematical communication skills after implementing the reciprocal teaching model are better, namely from 8.32 to 75.32 and students' interest in studying set material after using the reciprocal teaching model is 60% in the low interest category and 40% with the high category which was previously 32% in the very low category and 68% in the low interest category. Thus, it can be concluded that the application of the reciprocal teaching model can improve the mathematical communication skills and interest in learning of class VII SMP students in set material, although not optimally.

Evaluation of students’ performance in elective mathematics: The effect of high school students’ perceived difficulty of the subject

Perception has been attributed as a major cause of students' weakness in mathematics. Hence, this study evaluates its effect on student’s performance in the area of mathematics as an elective subject in some selected Senior High School (SHS) in Ghana. Mixed method research design that employed questionnaire with closed-ended and open-ended items were used in the collection of the data. Stratified sampling technique was used in selecting 300 students as sample for the study. Descriptive statistics and Multiple regression were used to analyse the quantitative data. Again, thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data. The findings showed that, SHS students perceived elective mathematics as a difficult subject. Nonetheless, they perceived the teacher-learner activities employed by their teachers in elective mathematics classroom as motivating. Further, they perceived as constructive, the teaching methods used by their elective mathematics teachers. In addition, the study revealed that students’ performance in elective mathematics was not significantly influenced by their perceived difficulty of elective mathematics, teacher motivation and teaching methods although the students expressed favourable dispositions towards these attributes. Thus, the need for Heads of High Schools, to do background check of students’ prior performance, interest and motivation in mathematics as a prerequisite condition for students to pursue elective mathematics is implied in this study. This could stem the tide in the students’ abysmal performance in elective mathematics. Implications for policy, practice and further research are discussed.

Dynamics and bifurcations in a model of chronic myeloid leukemia with optimal immune response windows.

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia is a blood cancer for which standard therapy with Tyrosine-Kinase Inhibitors is successful in the majority of patients. After discontinuation of treatment half of the well-responding patients either present undetectable levels of tumor cells for a long time or exhibit sustained fluctuations of tumor load oscillating at very low levels. Motivated by the consequent question of whether the observed kinetics reflect periodic oscillations emerging from tumor-immune interactions, in this work, we analyze a system of ordinary differential equations describing the immune response to CML where both the functional response against leukemia and the immune recruitment exhibit optimal activation windows. Besides investigating the stability of the equilibrium points, we provide rigorous proofs that the model exhibits at least two types of bifurcations: a transcritical bifurcation around the tumor-free equilibrium point and a Hopf bifurcation around a biologically plausible equilibrium point, providing an affirmative answer to our initial question. Focusing our attention on the Hopf bifurcation, we examine the emergence of limit cycles and analyze their stability through the calculation of Lyapunov coefficients. Then we illustrate our theoretical results with numerical simulations based on clinically relevant parameters. Besides the mathematical interest, our results suggest that the fluctuating levels of low tumor load observed in CML patients may be a consequence of periodic orbits arising from predator-prey-like interactions.

Developmental relations between mathematics self-concept, interest, and achievement: A comparison of solo- and co-taught classes

Developmental relations between mathematics self-concept, interest, and achievement: A comparison of solo- and co-taught classes

Interest in science and mathematics teaching among non-science/mathematics initial teacher education candidates

ABSTRACT Many countries are experiencing teacher shortages, with particularly long-standing issues in attraction and retention in secondary science and mathematics. Policy initiatives often focus on science and mathematics undergraduates, with the aim of encouraging them to consider teaching by offering scholarships into teacher education or fast-tracking into employment permanency. However, those who have already chosen to teach in non-science and mathematics teaching specialisations have already shown their interest in teaching and form a pool of candidates that may potentially be recruited into science and mathematics teaching pathways. While these non-science and mathematics teacher candidates could have the capacity to address in part longstanding science and mathematics teacher shortages, there is a lack of research examining their motivations from the perspective of initiatives that may attract them into science and mathematics teaching, and little that examines their science and mathematics backgrounds. We sought to address these gaps by surveying 349 initial teacher education (ITE) students from four Australian universities, examining their career motivations, interest in science and mathematics teaching, and science and mathematics backgrounds. We explored perceived barriers to secondary science and mathematics teaching, and responses to potential policy initiatives. We found that 61% of non-science/mathematics ITE candidates indicated high interest in secondary science or mathematics pathways. Policy options such as support for science and mathematics retraining after several years of teaching in their current subject area or level, were selected as likely to support this choice. Our results suggest considerable capacity for policymakers and tertiary institutions to design initiatives that may attract non-science/mathematics ITE candidates into science and mathematics teaching.

Advancing STEM education and research through preparing students with special interest in mathematics and science

This paper reports on the teaching of integrated STEM disciplines at the officially best school for creative and talented students of the Russian Federation. The paper shares how the success of this integration and the advancement of STEM education and research within the school is due to historical, cultural, and national practices of fostering creativity and giftedness at the pre-college level. Signature pedagogy of using concrete problems as a motivation for the study of abstract ideas is discussed. The merit of using traditional skills in mathematics in the digital era is demonstrated in the integrated context of entrance examination to the school and the modern-day digital technology. Several examples of research-oriented projects completed by the students at the school are presented.