Browsing by Author "Kaikkonen, Reetta"

Efforts. The research introduces beliefs about different areas of mathematics, because the current research is dealing with the views of mathematics. An effort was made to answer the questions: 1. What beliefs are including to the student's views of mathematics and views of the areas of mathematics? 2. What factors emerges in the student's views of mathematics? 3. What factors emerges repeatedly between students' views of mathematics? The current research has proven that mathematical beliefs guide the learner's mathematical skills and actions. The views of mathematics consist of two parts: about themselves as learners and users of mathematics and about mathematics and its teaching and learning. Both of these are influenced by the experiences of mathematics. The intuitive notion that students don't deal with mathematics in the same way made me evaluate current research and the usefulness of it especially in the high school education. Methods. The study involved 31 Adult High School students of mathematics. The students were commissioned the survey. They had to respond independently during a lesson. The survey includes five parts and explores the topics: mathematics (general), Geometry, Probability, Calculus and Vectors. Each section had arguments comparable for each other's, and students could answer them on a scale of 1–5 (strongly disagree... strongly agree). In addition, sections had the open-ended question in order to clarify student's views of the nature of a topic. The data were analyzed by observing the differences between areas. It was interpreted as difference if there is more than one deviation between the responses (on a scale of 1–5). At First, each student's answers were read by reviewing one by one. Finally, regional answers were compared between students. Results and conclusions. The study emerged beliefs of the different areas of mathematics. Several individual students had one of the areas, where he had positive beliefs about mathematics, in particular, in the view of oneself as a learner and as a user. Students had very different answers according to the nature of mathematics. Some students' beliefs of the different areas of mathematics seem to comply with their views of mathematics. However, there are a few students who had the difference between his view of one area of mathematics and his views of mathematics generally. So, it is remarkable to take into account which area of mathematics we are thinking when we talk about views of mathematics. In the future, it is essential to separate the different areas of mathematics in the researches about mathematical beliefs.