Factors influencing student initiative in effective mathematics studies at universities

Abstract

One of the most important problems of modern education is low achievement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. Poor performance in mathematics is a serious problem in many countries. In order to improve the effectiveness of mathematics studies, it is more important to improve such key factors as students’ learning self–efficacy and learning initiative. This study is devoted to students’ learning initiative and the factors influencing it. It is the insufficiency of students’ regular learning initiative in the study process that is the basis of the fact that students are not sufficiently prepared for the final exam. Based on the research results of the scientific literature, a questionnaire was created that investigated the students’ learning initiative and factors that could improve it – attitude towards mathematics studies, motivation, as well as emotional factors that are often related to Causal attributions. The research was conducted at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, surveying students of various specialties and various courses. Fisher’s exact test of independence is used to determine whether there is a significant relationship between two categorical variables – the respective factors and performance on the math completion test. The results show that one of the main causes is a low self–assessment of mathematics competence, which in turn affects motivation and attitude towards mathematics studies and slows down learning initiative.