Elementary Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics, Mathematics’ Teachers and Mathematicians

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to uncover the beliefs that elementary school students hold about mathematics. Participants were nineteen 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students attending a supplementary school. Data were collected by interviews conducted with each participant and pictures of a mathematician they dreamed. Data analysis revealed that students generally interpreted mathematics as consisting of calculation, numbers and operations. Participants usually equated problem solving with solving questions on a test, and being successful at mathematics with speed and correctness in calculation. Similarly, they stated that being smart was necessary to be successful in mathematics. Furthermore, they mostly pictured mathematicians as unsocial, lonely, angry, quiet who always work with numbers.