Attitudes Matter! Student Attitudes Toward Mathematics and Graphs Mediate Their Graph Reasoning and Graph Selection

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Studies Focused on Mathematical Reasoning and Argumentation (Table 5)

Abstract

It seems intuitive to believe that students’ attitudes toward mathematics would relate to their mathematical reasoning. We report results of statistical mediation analysis, in which we investigated how college algebra students’ attitudes toward mathematics and graphs might influence their graph reasoning and selection. Students (n=1,303) completed a fully online measure of their graph reasoning and selection for dynamic situations in conjunction with a survey of their attitudes toward mathematics and graphs. To test mediation pathways, we used structural equation modeling. We established a significant relationship between students’ graph reasoning and graph selection, mediated by their attitudes toward mathematics and graphs. Our results underscore the value of including students’ attitudes when exploring models involving mathematical reasoning and/or performance.

Authors

• Heather Lynn Johnson, University of Colorado - Denver

• Courtney Donovan, University of Colorado - Denver

• Kristin A Whitmore, University of Colorado - Denver

• Robert Knurek, University of Colorado - Denver