Mathematics Attitude and Problem Solving Ability Among Secondary School Students of Uttar Dinajpur District of West Bengal: A Study By Gender, Locale And Board

Abstract

Various assessments indicate that the mathematical concepts, emotions, and attitudes of secondary-level students influence their problem-solving abilities. A student's attitude encompasses their interest in and curiosity about mathematics, their self-confidence in solving problems, and their perception of the application and utility of mathematics in daily life. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the problem-solving abilities of secondary-level students in the Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal and their attitudes toward mathematics. The study sample consists of 230 students from secondary schools in the Uttar Dinajpur district, selected using a stratified sampling method. Data were collected using the 'Problem Solving Ability Test' developed by Dubey and Mathur, and the 'Mathematical Attitude Scale' developed by Ali Imam and Tahira Khatoon. Both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were employed to test the research hypotheses. For inferential statistics, a 't-test' was used to determine whether there were significant differences in the mean scores among sub-samples based on gender, location (rural/urban), and educational board. Pearson’s correlation was applied to analyze the relationship between problem-solving ability and attitudes toward mathematics. IBM SPSS Statistics (version 22) software was used for data analysis. The key findings of the study indicate that there is a negative correlation between problem-solving ability and attitudes toward mathematics, and that there is a significant difference between male and female students regarding their attitudes toward mathematics. A notable difference has been observed in the problem-solving skills of rural and urban students; furthermore, a significant difference has also been found in the problem-solving skills of students from the WBBSE and CBSE boards.