FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD STUDYING OF MATHEMATICS IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     Introduction

This chapter includes an overview of the background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objective of the study and research questions. The chapter also discusses significance, Aim and Objectives and limitation of the study.

1.1     Background of the Study

Mathematics in general is linked with the development of any nation in the world. Mathematics as a discipline, opens and shuts more doors for men and women than any other content area we have got Bolaji, (2005). Whether it is in science, engineering or technology, it is tremendously important that a person be well-armed with mathematics if he/she is going to have options in life Bramlett   and Herron, (2009). Mathematics is one of the core subjects to be offered to all students till the tertiary levels of education, Ernest, (2004).

Mathematics as observed by Fishbein and Ajzen (2005) is a fundamental science that is necessary for understanding most other fields in education.  Fishbein (2005) stressed further that no other subject forms such a strong force among the various branches of science.  In support of Fishbein, (2005), Ford (2001) affirmed that the knowledge of science remains superficial without Mathematics.  It therefore means that, the position of mathematics in school curriculum in Nigeria is important for scientist. In Nigeria, both primary and secondary teacher training colleges have ordinary level mathematics as requirement for enrolment to prospective teachers.

Though, we are living in a world that is rapidly progressing scientifically and technologically, the economic wellbeing of any developing nation depends to a significant extent on her scientific and technological process. Nigeria being a developing country now encourages the study of science and technology in schools so as to be able to meet up with the man-power needs of the nation.

All these approaches made by the government are good in themselves. A question stands to be answered “How do students and their attitude to the subjects relevant in achieving this purpose?” No matter the amount of investment, the government puts into education to make sure we are developed scientifically and technologically, it would be a wasted venture if students’ attitude to mathematics is negative. This is because mathematics is the language of sciences. Mathematics serves as the vehicle of thinking. A real study of science is not possible without the facilities of the fact that mathematics stands to be the vehicle of thinking. From the above going facts, it is evident that lack of initiatives to solve a problem contributes to the massive failure in mathematics among students. Ability to solve a problem becomes difficult. Idah (2007) sees reasons behind these facts and he stated that “as a subject, mathematics is at the base of all the science and environmental professions”. In industry, mathematics is needed for the production of guided missiles and is useful in aerospace technology. In communication, mathematics is also very useful. If one is mathematically literate, one can communicate precisely and present his argument in a logical manner because mathematics helps one in logical thinking. Indeed, there is hardly any field where mathematics is not useful. The farmer, the hunter, the housewife etc make use of mathematics in carrying out some simple arithmetic. This actually helps them tremendously.

Hence, we notice that if Nigerians are to realize their national objective in science and technology, hands must be on deck regarding the study of mathematics in both the primary, secondary and tertiary level of our education. Efforts would be made to improve students’ attitude towards the subject.

Our main focus here is how does the secondary schools student react to the studies of mathematics in their various schools? Mathematics is said to be one of the core-subjects in the secondary schools.

The right way to introduce young pupils to mathematics is not to teach Arithmetic, Algebra, Statistics and Geometry as separate branches, each with its own technical apparatus and methods. The ideal thing is to treat mathematics as a science in which the topics are chosen so as to develop a grasp of mathematical idea. Therefore, the early stage of mathematics teaching is very important since the pupils’ future performance in the subject depends on how well they perform at this stage. Mathematics is a way of thinking about pattern and relationship of numbers and shapes. It includes arithmetic, algebra, geometry, statistics and trigonometry.

The attitude of students to mathematics education whether positive or negative can be affected by many factors. Most students are biased towards mathematics education before they start studying it.