The Factors Motivating Saudi Students Mathematical Learning - Research Paper Example

The factors motivating Saudi in learning mathematics Unit Factors motivating Saudi in learning mathematics Literature review The section reviews the various factors that motivate Saudi students in learning mathematics. Recent studies into this issue reveal a mixture of performance among the students. However, a portion of the students performs excellently in mathematics. The literature review studies critically related works by competent scholars on the topic of research. Several factors motivate Saudi students in leaning mathematics. The first part of the section looks at the documented general factors that motivate students in performing excellently in mathematics as a subject of study. The study helps reveal a lot in terms of steps that may be lurking in the Saudi education sector to make students perform poorly. The second section is more specific to the Saudi students and relates to the background information of motivating Saudi students in learning mathematics. The third section will be about analyzing the result of doing interview questions with Saudi students in order to identify the factors of motivating Saudi students and use international experience to find development plan for this educational problem. Overview of motivation factors in learning mathematics 1. Peer pressure 2. Family background 3. Teacher student relationship 4. Attitude 5. Financial status 6. Interest and future careers 7. Number of available teachers 8. Rewards system Background information about motivation of Saudi students in learning mathematics  Students don’t have a good support system  Students do not perform well in mathematics Students do not have the desire to learn mathematics There is a gap between mathematics teachers and students Research question; what are the factors motivating Saudi students in learning mathematics? Peer pressure Peers are known to impact to the extent the attitudes of a teenager towards certain things. A teenager may want to identify so badly with their peers that they may conform to their standards without regard to their strengths and their abilities (Aunola, 2006). Friends, to a large degree motivate students on what they undertake and how they perform in various subjects. In this case, when a student is friends with other students who perform well in mathematics than they are most likely to perform just as well and are motivated to do well in the subject. On the other hand, if a student’s peers are non-performers in mathematics, then the student is more likely than not to perform dismally in the subject. Friends influence the performance of a student either positively or negatively (Bai, 2012). Family background The family backgrounds of where students come from, affect the experience of learning mathematics. The support a student gets at home is a high motivation. Different aspects exist at the family level: Here are families whom the parents or guardians are not necessarily involved in the education of the student in these instance mathematics (McGinnis, 2009). Students from such families are not motivated to work hard and are to perform very poorly. Likewise students who come from families where the guardians have shown some concern in their education are better placed to perform better in mathematics (Sengodan, 2012). Also, students who come from families of high achievers are known to perform very well in mathematics as compared to students who come from families of underachievers.so family is a motivation of Saudi students to either performs well or not. Teacher student relationship Relationship between the teachers motivates the student to either perform well or not. The teachers ability to engage students in problem solving skills helps a student a great deal in learning mathematics (ŞENGÜL, 2013) (iskandar, 2013). The teacher should be able to explain and teach content to students in a way that is easily understood by the student. The teaching methods used by the teacher should be able to come through for the student in understanding the subject. It can be deduced that teacher who is friendly to the student can impart knowledge to the students more easily than teacher who are considered strict as students end up fearing them rather than respecting them. The students ought to be able to relate to their teachers well so as to relate to what is taught easily. Attitude Attitude plays a very big role in what the student can or cannot learn. It a well-known fact that mathematics is perceived to be a hard subject by so many students and sometimes even by teacher and parents. A student who is conditioned to think of mathematics as a hard subject and has no motivation to work hard at it is most likely to perform very poorly in it while conversely a student who has a positive attitude towards mathematics is likely to perform so much better in the subject (Walter, 209). These attitudes are mostly shaped by the people surrounding the student, if these attitudes are positive then student get a chance to learn the subject well as compared to those surrounded by bad negative attitudes regarding the subject. . Financial status The financial status of the students family may motivate the student to learn mathematics in that a student from a rich family may be able to access better teachers and better schools since they have money at their disposal and are able to afford such things (Yang, 2014). A poor student may also be motivated to work hard in the subject even without such luxuries in order to raise the living standards of their families.it depends on the individual students perception on mathematics and life; a rich student may not work hard in school particularly mathematics despite having the facilities at their disposal because of inheritance and such things. Also, a poor student may feel doomed to be poor all their lives and, therefore, have no motivation to work hard at all. Interest and future careers The interest of the student to learn mathematics is dependent on their desire and interest in learning the subject and the passion they have for it. Naturally the desire to learn something in these case mathematics is a huge factor in learning it (Petersen, 2010). A student with an interest in learning the subject then, they will learn it regardless of what is needed. However if a student has no interest in learning the subject then no matter what is done the student will not learn the subject as required. The chosen future career of a student also affects the learning of mathematics. There are some careers that are highly dependent on mathematics such as engineering, statistics, economics, etc. A student who is keen on pursuing these careers will more than likely to work hard in mathematics and consequently work hard in it as compared to students whose future careers are less dependent on mathematics such as the arts and languages. Reward system Students’ being given rewards by their teachers as a way of motivating students is always used in encouraging the students to work harder in order to get the rewards. Although this process of encouraging students is not recommended by most people, it sometimes proves to be a useful method used to make the students perform better in mathematics (Francis, 2013). Number of teachers available The number of teacher available to teach the students in the school also determines the ability of the student to learn the subject. More teacher means that students can be paid attention to individually, and their personal problems are tackled rather than where there is a deficiency of students where the students do not get individual attention and thus perform dismally in the subject. It is important that there are enough teachers to teach this subject in Saudi schools (Ayodele, 2011). Conclusion Mathematics is a highly involving subject that requires the combination of ample time dedicated to it, encouragement from family, teachers and even friends and peers and importantly the right attitude towards it in order for one to learn the subject. References Aunola, K. L. (2006). Developmental dynamics between mathematical performance, task motivation, and teachers goals during the transition to primary school. British Journal of Educational , 21-40. Ayodele, O. J. (2011). Self-concept and Performance of Secondary School Students in Mathematics. Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology , 7-9. Bai, H. P. (2012). Assessing the effectiveness of a 3-D instructional game on improving mathematics achievement and motivation of middle School students. British Journal of Educational Technology , 993-1003. Francis, T. (2013). Mathematical and Computational Approaches to Music Theory, Analysis, Composition and Performance . Journal of Mathematics and Music , 156-160. iskandar. (2013). Attitude, motivation, and parents role perceived by sixth grade students in relation to their achievement in mathematics. nternational Journal of Academic , 424-430. McGinnis, J. F. (2009). The effect of token rewards on “intrinsic” motivation for doing math. Journal Of Applied Behavior Analysis , 375-379. Petersen, S. M. (2010). New Trends in Gender and Mathematics Performance: A Meta-Analysis. PMC , 1123–1135. . Sengodan, V. &. (2012). Students learning styles and intrinsic motivation in learning mathematics. Asian Social Science , 17-23. ŞENGÜL, S. &. (2013). The effect of learning integers using cartoons on 7th grade students attitude to mathematics. Mathematics. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice , 2526-2534. Walter, J. G. (209). Understanding the complexities of student motivations in mathematics learning. Journal of Mathematical , 162-170. Yang, K. (2014). The WebQuest model effects on mathematics curriculum learning in elementary school students. Journal Computers & Education , 158-166 . Read More