An Investigation Of Engineering Students' Attitudes Toward Calculus In Taiwan

• Published in: Association for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers p. 15.168.1
• Main Author: Huang, Chih Hsien
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta American Society for Engineering Education-ASEE 20.06.2010
• Subjects: Anxiety; Attitudes; Calculus; Colleges & universities; Confidence; Domains; Engineering; Engineering education; Engineers; Females; Learning; Males; Mathematical analysis; Mathematics; Problem solving; Students; Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to investigate engineering students in Taiwan to (1) assess their attitudes toward calculus, (2) determine the difference in attitudes scores between males and females and (3) assess the relationship between students, attitudes toward calculus and their calculus achievement. Attitude was measured in cognitive, affective, and behavior domains explore the relation between attitude and its internal factors of calculus learning among engineering students in Taiwan. This study used theory and related research to develop a questionnaire research tool. The internal factors of calculus learning that we choose were usefulness, self-efficacy, motivation, anxiety, and, learning habits. The contributions of this study are as follows The findings show that a high percentage of students do not have positive attitudes toward calculus. A statistical significant difference existed in the mean scores for males and females in the calculus attitudes scale. Specifically, statistical significant differences were detected between males and females in two attitude domains: cognitive and behavior. The correlation calculus and calculus achievement was statistically significant in the self-efficacy scale. This study reveals that engineering students in Taiwan have different levels of attitudes toward calculus. This information could be helpful to calculus lecturers. Introduction Growing evidence support tudes and beliefs toward mathematics for their achievement in and successful application of the subject.1 Research studies have shown that students in higher education who are not mathematics majors often have negative images, beliefs and attitudes towards mathematics.2 Mathematical achievement has often been correlated with positive attitudes the subject. A number of studies have reported that engineers subsequently view mathematics as a toolkit, the application of which needs to be learned. Engineers also have difficulty using mathematics in relatively low-level problem solving and non-routine engineering applications .3 With diminishing budgets and increasing competition from universities, Taiwan universities are trying now more than over to better understand their student population to better serve their students to improve teaching and learning. Low achievement or repeated failure in mathematics often leads to negative attitudes and lowered confidence, resulting in reduced effort or even mathematics avoidance, leading to further failure. Engineering majors are required to complete at least one semester of calculus at all Taiwan universities. Calculus