Browsing by Author "Enjala, Tytti"

The aim of this study was to research girls' and boys' attitudes towards mathematics and compare the results with each other. The other aim of this study is also find out girls experiences of a positive attitude towards mathematics. Previous research studies have shown that girls' attitudes towards mathematics are starting to deteriorate since elementary school despite of the fact that both boys' and girls' are managing mathematics just as well. This study had a mixed methods approach, so it contains both qualitative and quantitative methods for the data analyses. First were search what kinds of attitudes sixth grades boys' and girls' had on mathematics. After taking the attitude survey three girls were selected for interview. The attitude surveys were analyzed by independent samples t-test and the interviews were analyzed by the content analysis. The findings indicate that boys' like mathematics more but girls think mathematics are more useful for them. The differences between overall average with girls' and boys' mathematical attitude were not statistical significance. Girls who had a positive attitude towards mathematics explain their attitudes for having parents, especially dad who have helped them and because they have had lots of positive experiences about mathematics during the years.