Attitudes towards Mathematics in Future Elementary School Teachers

Resumo

This study has the purpose to describe the attitudes towards mathematics of 239 future elementary school teachers of a Chilean university, as well as the relation among such attitudes and gender, the math scores taken from the university selection test (PSU, according to its Spanish translation) and the intent to choose math as specialization. The present study used a quantitative approach and the data collection was conducted by using a Likert questionnaire, which was applied before starting the training courses. The results showed that a high percentage of participants declared to have a positive attitude towards mathematics, being the dimension “Utility of mathematics” the one with the higher percentage. Moreover, it could be observed that there is no relation between a negative attitude and the variables of gender, PSU and intent to choose math as specialization. The study suggests studying in depth the factors that affect the development of positive and negative attitudes towards mathematics as well as the course of actions that should be taken in order to strengthen them during the training program.