Explorations of Finnish mathematics students' beliefs about the nature of mathematics

• According to certain surveys made in Germany, mathematics can be seen either as a stagnant structure (formalism-related orientation), a collection of rules, formulas and methods (scheme-related orientation), an active and creative construction process (process-related orientation), or as a method of describing the real world (application- related orientation). We examine how a twenty-item test of students’ orientations for students’ beliefs on the nature of mathematics, which was developed in the German context, translates to the Finnish culture remaining validity. Altogether 310 first-year students from three Finnish universities took part in the study. We apply confirmatory factor analysis to reveal that a slightly modified version the translated questionnaire is applicable also in the Finnish context. Using data collected with the translated questionnaire, we construct a binary regression models to predict students’ choosing between a technical and an ordinary university, and how probability that a student chooses teacher’s study programme slightly decreases if the static view grows stronger in his/her view of mathematics. Further, we see that all four orientations exist almost equally strong in the Finnish students’ beliefs.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Mathematics Education

Matematik och lärande

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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art (ämneskategori)