The relationship between the attitudes towards mathematics and achievement at KCSE in some selected schools in Mutomo Sub-district, Kenya

Abstract

Unfavourable attitudes have been noted as one of the factors that affect students' learning and the subsequent achievevement in a subject. The prime purpose of this project was to study the relationship between the attitudes of students towards mathematics and their achievement in it at the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination in some selected secondary schools in Mutomo sub-district. The study also aimed at finding out the extend to which gender influences students' attitudes towards mathematics. Essentially, a comparative survey was carried out in three secondary schools. A sample size of 120 form four students (2003) was selected from Mutomo Girls Schools, lkutha Boys Schools and Muthue Mixed School. The stratified random sampling technique was used to collect data from the respondents. These schools were selected through stratified sampling technique. The students in these schools were randomly selected. An attitude test was administered to these students. Generally, learning and learning outcome is affected by a multiple of factors. By principle, Psychologists condone that, attitudes affect learning and achievement in a subject. Basically, the results of my research revealed that, Mathematics is not that much a hated subject as many people believe. Girl students had slightly more positive attitudes towards the subject than the boys, contrary to the expectations of many researchers. Those students who had attended single sex schools had more positive attitude towards mathematics than those who attended mixed schools. Specifically, even though attitudes playa critical role in learning, the relationship is equivocal. Hence, my research indicated that, attitudes alone can't be used to judge achievement in mathematics. Consequently, it seems that, there are other intervening, control and extraneous variables that seem to impact on achievement in mathematics.