Improving students’ attitudes to chance with games and.pdfVIP

Improving students’ attitudes to chance with games and activities Steven Nisbet Anne Williams (Griffith University) Two combined Year 7 classes in a Queensland primary school participated in a unit of chance lessons involving six games and activities over a period of two weeks. Evidence was found for significant short-term improvements in students’ enjoyment and motivation relating to chance, decreases in anxiety about chance, and improvements in students’ perceptions about the usefulness of learning about chance. The importance of attitudes in learning Research over many years has established that attitudes play a significant role in learning mathematics (McLeod, 1992; Ma Kishor, 1997; Zan, Brown, Evans Hannula, 2006). McLeod’s summary of research in the area includes reports of positive correlations between attitude and achievement in national assessment data at all three grades assessed (Grades 3, 7, 11), and states that attitude and achievement interact with each other in complex ways. Ma and Kishor’s meta-analysis of studies investigating the relationship between attitude toward mathematics and achievement in mathematics found that the significance of the relationship is dependent on grade level. Although the effect sizes were significantly different from zero for all grade levels, the relationship might not be important for students in Grades 1 to 6, but might be practically meaningful for students in Grades 7 to 12. Ma and Kishor’s conclusion highlights the importance of attending to attitudes in teaching students in Year 7 i.e. those participating in this study. Each of the commonly accepted elements of attitudes – interest, enjoyment, motivation to learn, confidence, anxiety, and task value – has been identified in research as relevant to success in learning. In their discussion of the role of