Change of attitudes of Czech pupils towards mathematics during school attendance Cover Image

Změna postojů českých žáků k matematice během školní docházky
Change of attitudes of Czech pupils towards mathematics during school attendance

Author(s): Martin Chvál
Subject(s): Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Nakladatelství Karolinum
Keywords: semantic differential; mathematics attitudes; PISA; TIMSS; Road to Quality Improvement

Summary/Abstract: Results of international research show that Czech pupils don’t like mathematics. The relationship of Czech pupils to mathematics has also been studied by Hrabal and Pavelkova who give more differentiated view on it. My study focuses on the change of Czech pupils towards mathematics during school attendance. First I analyzed the results of the mentioned studies. Then I used semantic differential method to measure pupils’ attitudes toward mathematics. The sample consisted of 4351 pupils from 53 schools and 230 classes from 4th grade of basic school till the last grade of secondary school. Data were collected electronically as part of the national project Road to Quality Improvement. The results are presented by grades and by the type of secondary school. It is clear that attitudes of Czech pupils towards mathematics worsen during school attendance. This trend is not observable in pupils’ attitudes towards Czech language and to foreign language.

  • Issue Year: 7/2013
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 49-71
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Czech