Problem Solving Confidence and Attitudes in Mathematics of Grade Six Pupils of Sawata Ernandcor Central Elementary School
Keywords:
self-confidence, attitudes, willingness to engage, passiveness, perseveranceAbstract
The study aimed to determine whether the problem solving confidence had an effect on the attitudes of students in solving problems in Mathematics. Specifically, it sought to find out if low and high problem solving confidence of pupils significantly differs in attitudes in Mathematics. Descriptive- comparative design was used in the study. The study was carried out at Sawata Ernandcor Central Elementary school for forty-eight grade six pupils. Frequency or percentage, Mean, and One- Way MANOVA were used as tools in the analysis of data. Results revealed that there was greater number of students that have low confidence in problem solving in Mathematics; the level of attitudes in Mathematics of grade six pupils was high and there was a significant difference in the problem solving confidence of grade six pupils in terms of their attitudes in Mathematics. Further, there was a significant difference in attitudes in Mathematics associated with the difference in problem solving confidence of grade six pupils. The only substantial deviation in the problem solving confidence was on their willingness to engage in Mathematics. The findings indicated that future teaching of mathematics should engage more challenging problem solving activities to build students’ confidence in problem solving and change their attitude to be more positive to mathematics.
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