An investigation of Malawian schoolchildren’s attitudes towards mathematics ; En undersøkelse av malawiske skolebarns holdninger til matematikk

Master's thesis in Didactics of Mathematics for Primary School ; This study investigated Malawian schoolchildren’s attitudes towards mathematics. The following research questions were investigated in a Malawian context: 1. Which factors affect children’s attitudes towards mathematics in Malawi? 2. To what extent can the factors gender, age and grade/standard be used to generalize claims regarding students’ attitudes towards mathematics in Malawi? 3. How can teachers in Malawi facilitate various motivational factors in their mathematics teaching? This study viewed how different attitudes appear and how attitudes can affect learning outcomes. With a purpose of understanding attitudinal factors and how teachers can facilitate positive attitudes towards mathematics, this study investigated students’ attitudes towards mathematics in relation to their self-concept in mathematics, how they valued the subject of mathematics, how they enjoyed the subject of mathematics, and how their motivation towards the subject of mathematics was. By investigating differences in attitude in relation to gender, age and grade/standard, the research brought forward possible reasons for students’ differing attitudes towards mathematics. Students across grade/standard five, six, seven and eight at an urban school in Malawi participated in the study (N = 403). With a cross-sectional design, this study used a quantitative- and a qualitative approach. A questionnaire measuring students’ attitudes towards mathematics was used in accordance with an open ended question survey, interviews of the mathematics teachers, and observation of classroom lessons. Results revealed several factors affecting children’s attitudes towards mathematics. Gender was found not to affect students’ attitudes towards the subject, and age appeared to have a negative correlation with students’ enjoyment of mathematics. There were little statistically significant differences in the mean scores across the standards, but students labelled as “gifted” and “not gifted” ...