A strong mathematics background is essential for job opportunities and advancement in a developing country like Malaysia. It gives students the confidence and ability to solve problems and become rational as well as critical in their thinking. However, Malaysian students’ mathematics achievement is relatively low as compared to other school subjects. This difference is more pronounced in rural schools. Previous studies have highlighted the relationship between students’ attitude and achievement in mathematics. Hence, it is important to investigate the contributing factors that affect students’ attitudes towards mathematics. This book is adapted and modified from a PhD thesis entitled: “Factors affecting students’ attitude towards mathematics in Sabah, Malaysia” of the first author. In this book, the relationships among perceived parental influences, teacher affective support, classroom instruction, gender, SES, students’ previous achievement and students’ attitude towards mathematics are portrayed using Structural Equation Modeling approach. Findings from the study can be utilised to understand the complex interplay of relationships that form students’ attitude towards mathematics, including factors that can be addressed by the classroom mathematics teacher. This book will be useful for secondary school mathematics teachers, researchers, school administrators, students, and policymakers.

This book focuses on aspects of mathematical beliefs, from a variety of different perspectives. Current knowledge of the field is synthesized and existing boundaries are extended. The volume is intended for researchers in the field, as well as for mathematics educators teaching the next generation of students.

Mathematics as a subject is perceived to be fundamental in the understanding and mastery of science in the modern society. Despite the fact that mathematics is critical for many careers and technological advancement, currently there is a public outcry concerning the low standard of Mathematics performance in most countries. In relation to the factors perceived to influence students' performance, many studies have so far indicated that students' academic self-concept and attitudes are among the most important psychological constructs that can explain any academic achievement. Research shows that many children begin schooling with a positive attitude towards Mathematics; however these attitudes tend to become negative as children grow up. The changes and variations of students' attitudes is great concern to educational stakeholders in many parts of the world. Therefore, this book provides research based findings mainly focusing on: the causes of variations in students' attitude and Academic self-concept towards Mathematics and the extent to which students' attitude and Academic Self-concept predict Mathematics performance.

Over the past thirty years, there has been much dialogue, and debate, about the conduct of educational technology research and development. In this brief volume, the author helps clarify that dialogue by theoretically and empirically charting the research methods used in the field and provides much practical information on how to conduct educational technology research. Within this text, readers can expect to find answers to the following questions: (a) What are the methodological factors that need to be taken into consideration when designing and conducting educational technology research? (b) What types of research questions do educational technology researchers tend to ask? (c) How do educational technology researchers tend to conduct research? (d) What approaches do they use? What variables do they examine? What types of measures do they use? How do they report their research? (d) How can the state of educational technology research be improved? In addition to answering the questions above, the author, a research methodologist, provides practical information on how to conduct educational technology research--from formulating research questions, to collecting and analyzing data, to writing up the research reports--in each of the major quantitative and qualitative traditions. Unlike other books of this kind, the author addresses some of research approaches used less commonly in educational technology research, but which, nonetheless, have much potential for creating new insights about educational phenomena--approaches such as single-participant research, quantitative content analysis, ethnography, narrative research, phenomenology, and others. "Multidisciplinary Methods in Educational Technology Research and Development" is an excellent text for educational technology research methods courses, a useful guide for those conducting (or supervising) research, and a rich source of empirical information on the art and science of educational technology research. Key Questions in Educational Technology Methods Choice are appended. (Contains 13 figures and 13 tables.) [This publication was produced by the HAMK University of Applied Sciences.].

This monograph analyses and describes successful educational actions with a specific focus on vulnerable groups (i.e. youth, migrants, cultural groups e.g. Roma, women, and people with disabilities). Concrete data that shows success in school performance in subject matters such as math or language will be provided, as well as children, teachers and families accounts of the impact of this success. Alongside, there is an analysis of the relationship between these children’s educational performance with their inclusion or exclusion from different areas of society (i.e. housing, health, employment, and social and political participation). Many studies have already diagnosed and described the causes of educational and social exclusion of these vulnerable groups. This monograph, however, provides solutions, that is, actions for success identified through the INCLUD-ED project, thus providing both, contrasted data and solid theoretical background and development. Some examples of these actions are interactive groups (or heterogeneous grouping in the classroom with reorganisation of human resources), extension of the learning time, homework clubs, tutored libraries, family and community educative participation, family education, or dialogic literary gatherings. All these actions have been defined as successful educational actions, which mean that they lead to both efficiency and equity. Finally, recommendations for policy and practice are included and discussed.

This book records the state of the art in research on mathematics-related affect. It discusses the concepts and theories of mathematics-related affect along the lines of three dimensions. The first dimension identifies three broad categories of affect: motivation, emotions, and beliefs. The book contains one chapter on motivation, including discussions on how emotions and beliefs relate to motivation. There are two chapters that focus on beliefs and a chapter on attitude which cross-cuts through all these categories. The second dimension covers a rapidly fluctuating state to a more stable trait. All chapters in the book focus on trait-type affect and the chapter on motivation discusses both these dimensions. The third dimension regards the three main levels of theorizing: physiological (embodied), psychological (individual) and social. All chapters reflect that mathematics-related affect has mainly been studied using psychological theories.