Students' Beliefs About Mathematics Learning and Problem Solving: The Case of Grade Eleven Students in West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract:Currently, there is a strong political focus in Ethiopia on science, engineering, and mathematics. This to be efficient and practical strong mathematics knowledge, which is built through effective mathematics learning and problem solving, is momentous. For this in turn students' beliefs about mathematics learning and problem solving play an important role; since students' beliefs are vital forces in students' mathematics learning and problem solving. Therefore, investigating students' beliefs about mathematics learning and problem solving is essential in educational research. To address the problem quantitative approach using survey design was employed. The data was collected from four schools in West Arsi Zone using multistage sampling. The quantitative data obtained was analyzed using mean and independent samples t-test. Consequently, this study displayed that students' beliefs about mathematics learning, and students' beliefs about mathematics problem solving, were neutral; and there was statistically significant difference in students' beliefs about mathematics learning and problem solving according to stream, and parents' residence. However, even though the mean of students' beliefs about mathematics learning and problem solving for male students was greater than that of female students, there was no statistically significant difference between male and female students in their beliefs about mathematics learning and problem solving.

Mathematical Problem Solving Ability in terms of Mathematical Disposition on the Application of Group Investigation (GI) Learning Models

“…Kemampuan belajar yang dibutuhkan seumur hidup oleh semua siswa dari segala usia adalah pemecahan masalah (Siniguian, 2017). Pemecahan masalah adalah proses ilmiah yang dilewatkan seseorang dari memahami masalah untuk menentukan informasi yang dibutuhkan untuk pemecahan masalah dan mengevaluasi kesesuaian solusi (Ayele, 2016;Ozturk & Guven, 2016). Kemampuan untuk memecahkan masalah dalam berbagai konteks pembelajaran sangat penting untuk pengembangan pengetahuan, pemahaman dan kinerja khususnya dalam pembelajaran matematika.…”

Psychological Studies in the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Mathematics

“…In Ethiopia, studies that assess the mathematics self-efficacy of high school students are scarce, and the ones that are available (mainly student works) come up with contradictory findings. For example, the study by Abebe (2001) found gender differences favoring males, while the studies by Wubalem (2006) and Ayele and Dadi (2016) found no gender differences in students' mathematics self-efficacy. Contrary to these and many other findings described earlier, a study in Tigray, Ethiopia depicted that female grade 9 students have higher mathematics self-efficacy than their male counterparts (Tekola et al, 2020).…”

Crossmark Policy

“…Melalui pembelajaran matematika berbasis pendekatan masalah, siswa akan lebih belajar mandiri untuk membangun pengetahuan tentang suatu konsep matematika, mengaitkan hubungan antar konsep, kemudian menggunakan konsep-konsep tersebut untuk menyelesaikan masalah non rutin yang ditemui. Dalam konteks ini, untuk membangun pengetahuan tentang konsep, fakta, prosedur, dan keterampilan dalam matematika, yang kuat, maka bisa dibangun secara efektif melalui pembelajaran matematika dan problem solving (Ayele & Dadi, 2016;Muhtarom, Juniati, Siswono, & Rahmatika, 2018).…”