A Study on Students' Consciousness toward Mathematics : A consideration of the difference in consciousness between junior high school students and high school students

Abstract

In order to improve the quality of mathematics education, it is important to carry out research on the teaching materials and the teaching methods. It is perhaps even more important to understand the consciousness of students of mathematics. The purpose of this research is to examine the difference in consciousness toward mathematics between junior high school students and high school students. This research is based on a series of studies entitled "Research on Students' Belief, Goal and Attitude on Mathematics" that was carried out in Fukuyama junior and senior high school attached to Hiroshima university from 1995 to 1997. As a result of the research, the following differences in consciousness concerning creativity and communication with other students between junior and senior high school students became clear. ・Though high school students think that "Mathematics is free and it has possibilities.", junior high school students think that "Mathematics is a set of problems to be solved." ・Though junior high school students think that mathematical ability improves by solving many problems, high school students think that it improves by creative learning. ・Though junior high school students feel happy solving problems, high school students feel happy learning mathematics expansively. ・Both junior and senior high school students feel happy learning mathematics when there is good communication between students. These results suggest that we should consider the teaching of mathematics creatively and develop mathematics as an important subject so that students can reach upper grade.