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International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education

International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education
An Exploration of Calculus Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics
Abraham Ayebo 1 * , Amaniel Mrutu 1
1 University of Minnesota, USA
* Corresponding Author
APA
In-text citation: (Ayebo & Mrutu, 2019)
Reference: Ayebo, A., & Mrutu, A. (2019). An Exploration of Calculus Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 14(2), 385-392. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5728
AMA
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Ayebo A, Mrutu A. An Exploration of Calculus Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2019;14(2), 385-392. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5728
Chicago
In-text citation: (Ayebo and Mrutu, 2019)
Reference: Ayebo, Abraham, and Amaniel Mrutu. "An Exploration of Calculus Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2019 14 no. 2 (2019): 385-392. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5728
Harvard
In-text citation: (Ayebo and Mrutu, 2019)
Reference: Ayebo, A., and Mrutu, A. (2019). An Exploration of Calculus Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 14(2), pp. 385-392. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5728
MLA
In-text citation: (Ayebo and Mrutu, 2019)
Reference: Ayebo, Abraham et al. "An Exploration of Calculus Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 14, no. 2, 2019, pp. 385-392. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5728
Vancouver
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Ayebo A, Mrutu A. An Exploration of Calculus Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2019;14(2):385-92. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5728

Abstract

This study explored the mathematics beliefs of students enrolled in a first year calculus class at a Midwestern university in the United States. The Indiana Mathematics Belief Scale was administered to 162 students enrolled in a first year calculus class during the first week of school. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to examine the factor structure of the survey instrument. Five factors were extracted: Effort, Usefulness, Difficult problems, Understanding, and Steps. Students’ responses were analyzed for inter-item correlation and internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s α).  The results were compared with similar studies conducted by Kloosterman and Stage (1992) as well as Berkaliev and Kloosterman (2009). The reliability obtained in this study was consistent with the previous studies. In particular, the Steps subscale was quite low (0.52). It might therefore make sense to drop the Steps subscale in future studies.

Keywords

mathematics mathematics beliefs problem solving calculus students

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