BELIEFS ON MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM SOLVING: A CASE STUDY ON INDIAN UNDER GRADUATE MATHEMATICS STUDENTS
This paper will discuss the Beliefs on Mathematical Problem Solving, a case study on subjects of 59 Indian college students who are studying under Gauhati University, the State Assam in India. A questionnaire of 34 items with the items reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) 0.88 is first time administered to our students. We want to learn their beliefs about six domains on mathematical problem solving which are identified as important of understanding, predetermined sequence of steps, time consuming math’s problems, have several ways of solutions, kind of Mathematics Instruction and usage of technologic equipments. There are 18 positively and 16 negatively stated items which are included to each domain on mathematical problem solving. The study revealed that the beliefs more than half of the students on mathematical problem solving followed in the direction of strong agreements on positive statements and not agree on the negative statements to all other domain besides beliefs about following predetermined sequence of steps. For these statements the belief of the students are going agreement on negative statements but the positive statements are not belief.
mathematics problem solving, predetermine sequence, solutions.