Dominio afectivo en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas de los estudiantes de educación media publica de la ciudad de Bucaramanga

Abstract

High school student’s affective relationship has been identified as a main tension. This study is focused on that tension, given constant references of students' lack of interest and apathy towards mathematics. Affective domain in mathematics learning is identified as a framework’s study of this relationship, which has become a field of affective-emotional factors research that intervene in mathematics learning. Concern about low levels of mathematical performance leads this research into this perspective, considered in Latin American context as a recent way to analyse the problem. The purpose is to determine and study mathematical profiles of public secondary education’s students in the city of Bucaramanga from a set of affective domain factors to know about affective relationship with mathematics and its association with school performance levels. Research’s design is descriptive-correlational, not experimental of a mixed nature. The sample is taken from 1.201 students of public secondary education from eleven institutions from the city of Bucaramanga, Colombia. The measurement instrument used is a questionnaire with five sections that was designed to analyse variables of study: Attitudes, beliefs, emotions, and sociodemographic and personal aspects of participants, allowing free written statements related to those variables. Results found a medium-high positive attitude towards mathematics; generalized beliefs of difficulty, usefulness and nature, a mathematical self-concept at a medium level —identified as a factor with greatest association with school performance, followed by mathematical anxiety. Other associations are found between relevant factors that explain affective relationship. Comparisons are made between institution types, gender, and school performance. Finally, mathematical profiles are determined.