Why Most of The Students in Buting Senior High School Dislike Mathematics Subject?

Monique Reyes

Dana Mae Rociento

Christina Tafalla

Dimple Fajardo

Mary Jane Gamboa

Stephannie Eunice Delos Santos

Buting Senior High School

Practical Research 1

Ms. Grecilda L. Llena

Second Semester S.Y. 2017

 CHAPTER I

Introduction

Why do students seem to dislike mathematics? It is a common observation among

mathematics teachers and school officials that most of the students do not like mathematics.
Only a few of them love the subject. Some will roll their eyes or let out a sigh. They give many
reasons, such as “It’s too hard”, “I’m not good at Math”, “Can we even use this every day?”, and
“Can we apply the letters or the variables “x and y” in our daily lives?” etc. Where does this
negative attitude of most of the students, towards the subject came from? What is the cause of
being reluctant to study their lessons in Mathematics which eventually lead to their low grades in
this subject?

According to The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1994), “One of the

curious aspects of our society is that, it is socially acceptable to take pride in not being good in
Mathematics”. This study will explore the reasons why students dislike Mathematics. There are
many possible reasons for this attitude. Maybe the students, don’t understand why they will need
the subject and don’t see the real world connections. This study will focus why some students have
such a negative attitude about Mathematics.

There have been several studies on this issue that have attempted to desire the effect on
their achievement. Some of the students think that they are sleeping when God threw the blessings
of being smart/intelligence in Mathematics. Speaking of disliking Math, we have encountered a
situation like this. Our former classmate, who is not quite interested in the subject, is now on the
other track. Because they once failed in Math, and now they are avoiding the subject. Maybe they
feel behind and they were unable to catch up because the longer they study it, the more it will
become complicated.
 What are the possible ways to overcome this problem? Is there any possibility that it’ll
work? So, this study will focus on how the students who are not quite interested in Math will
change their negative attitude, which is called “Math Anxiety”.

Background of the Study

According to Cates and Rhymer, 2003; Mathematics Anxiety is a condition in which

students experience negative reactions to Mathematical Concepts and Methods. It can lead to
several consequences. Suinn and Richardson (1972) found that Mathematics Anxiety may prevent
students from pursuing higher level of Math Lessons. So, all in all Math Anxiety is a negative
relationship with Mathematics performance.

Several studies have proposed that Math Anxiety has Two Dimensions: the first one is
Affective; in to this you can feel Nervous, Tension, Dread, and Fear. And the second one is
Cognitive, where you can feel Worried about the subject. The relationship between the Affective
Math Anxiety factor and achievement showed a strong negative effect to the students, while
Cognitive Math Anxiety was inconsistent fear in the subject.

In every field of endeavour, mathematical skills are always used. For instance, in
business, in government activities, and in our day to day activities, we always need this skill and
principles. From this, we could say that people are so dependent on mathematics, but not all the
people believe that Math is useful in everyday lives.

People like different things, there is nothing that is universally like by every human being,
but Math is no exception. Some students feel like Math is a foreign language that they cannot
understand.

Based on our experience, we can really understand the lessons of the subject, when the
teachers teaching us and giving some examples, but when it comes to they are already giving us a
problem to be solved, the lesson that we’ve understand become totally lost in our mind.
 When students failed to progress in Math class, they feel stupid and started avoiding and
disliking Math, and to this, as the day passed, the more they are losing interest in the subject. So all
in all, they do not see the beauty in Mathematics.

Statement of the Problem

Having a negative attitude toward Mathematics may affect the student’s achievement. If
students don’t like math, they may experience struggles through the classes and make a low
grades. But the long-term effect will probably be that they will not pursue the subject any more
even though they have to. They will certainly not pursue a career in a math related field. If the
reasons for this dislike can be determined, the teachers can take steps to change the student’s
attitude.

This study aims to answer the following questions.

1. What are the demographic profiles of the respondents in terms of the following?
A. Age
B. Gender
C. Track

2. What strand has a higher number of students who dislikes the subject, Mathematics?

3. What are the reasons why they are not quite interested in Math?

4. What are the possible ways to help them overcome this problem?
 Significance of the Study

Educators have been seeking to find ways to increase student’s achievements in

Mathematics. With many students having a dislike of Mathematics, it will be difficult to have
meaningful change in their progress. If a particular reason can be found for this dislike, then it
may be possible to change it in a timely manner.

For the parents, this study will guide them how to motivate their children. So that,
understanding of mathematical concepts and skills will be facilitate. In addition, the findings of
this study may help them understand the limitations in choosing appropriate courses for the
children.

For the teachers, they should not only limit themselves to problems that are found in
books but instead they should expose their students to problems that are true to life. They may
inspire the students to love the subject and they should focus their attention to the students who
are not quite interested in Math.

For the Students who dislike Mathematics subject, you are the direct beneficiaries of
this study, such findings may help them develop a healthy attitude towards mathematics and find
enjoyment in performing mathematical tasks which in turn facilitate learning and improve their
performance and give them a better preparation for higher mathematics courses.

Definition of Terms
The purpose of this is for the better understanding and to clarify the unfamiliar terms in
this study.
Affective – a symptoms that expressing a negative emotions.
Anxiety – fear or nervousness about what might happen. A painful or apprehensive uneasiness
of mind usually over an impending or anticipated ill.
Cognitive – a symptoms that expressing a conscious mental activities.
Disliking – a feeling of not liking or approving of something. Something that you do not enjoy to
do.
Endeavour – to seriously or continually try to do something.
Mathematics – the science of numbers, quantities, and shapes and the relations between them.
 Chapter II

Review of Related Literature

The review of related literature of this study identifies how fear and interest, together with
the student's study habits can affect their performance in various subject matters, specifically,
Mathematics.

To start this chapter, the researcher will give the meaning of the variables that is involved
in the study, namely, fear and its types, interest, study habits and Mathematics. The researcher
will interrogate other research studies and articles that also show how these variables are related
to our study and this chapter will end with the summary of literature review.

According to yourdictionary.com; Mathematics is “the group of sciences ( including

arithmetic, geometry, algebra, calculus, etc. dealing with quantities, magnitudes, and forms, and
their relationships attributes, etc., by the use of numbers and symbols.”

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary; Mathematics is “the science of numbers and

their operations, interrelations, combinations, generalizations, and abstractions and of space
configurations and their structure, measurement, transformations, and generalizations.”

Mathematics as defined by the latest Gallup youth survey conducted in as cited by Saad,
(2005), is the subject that the teenagers find the most difficult in school.

According to Saad (2005) “ it is not surprising how the subject has the lowest
performance rate, while to Stites (1993), people have the tendency to blame the educators of the
poor performance of the students in Math”. That's why Temple professor and mathematician
John Allen Paulos as cited in Stites (1993) directed these problems to a number of factors and
Paulos attributed this problem to educational system that emphasizes practice without
incorporating the concept. Plus, he mentioned that “this also partly because of the mentality that
math is not for everyone and people think that math is only for a selected few or the left - brained
ones”.

According to Philippine concept, conducted by Cabahug and Ladot (2005), the

University of the Philippine's greatest failure is in Mathematics. Some of UP students repeat a
mathematics course. They also said that the faculty of the UP Cebu Natural Science &
Mathematics Division or NSMD have felt the declining performance of students in basic
mathematics.

Fuilarton (1993) as cited in Cabahug and Ladot, said that “the poor attitude toward
mathematics is the reason why most of students can't participate in the class and the reason why
students take the subject again and again”.

Based on the perspective of Overstreet (1951), “the fear is the most deceitful emotion
that has the greatest impact on our behaviour”. He also said that “fear makes us do what we
ought not to do and leave undone what we ought to do.”

On the other hand, Ficarra (1990) described fear as a “basic emotional response to some
situation”. He classified fear into four types: anxiety, panic, paranoia, and phobia. Anxiety and
panic, stays only for a short time, the only difference between the two is that anxiety is a feeling
of wanting to do something very much while panic is just a sudden unreasonable fear. On the
other hand, the two remaining fear, the paranoia and phobia is lasting and not just a cause of
single event – paranoia is an unreasonable feeling that people are trying to harm you and phobia
is an extremely strong fear on something that others find normal.

Smith (1997) said that “math anxiety is a condition when a person feels helpless and
frustrated in doing mathematics”.

In other study, the researchers Bilbase and Shashidar (2010) in a study entitled “Images,
Anxieties, and Attitudes toward Mathematics” said that there are so many reasons for fear in the
subject mathematics. Strawderman proposed three domains to study mathematics anxiety: social
/ motivational domain, intellectual / educational domain, and psychological / emotional domain.
Bilbase and Shashidar (2010) clearly stated that the social / motivational domain includes forces
that act upon a person through agencies of family, friends, and society. Intellectual / educational
domain is comprised of those influences that are re-involved in nature. Psychological / emotional
domain is formed by the faculties that are affective in nature.

From the different studies and articles that we present, the researchers concluded that
anxiety and interest may affect the performance of the students toward mathematics subject.
However, their attitude toward the subject cannot be the only basis of their performance as their
study habits can also affect it.

Synthesis

Based on the data and information that the researchers collected, people have the
tendency to blame the educators of the poor performance of the students in Math, Stites (1993), it
is not surprising how the subject mathematics, has the lowest performance rate, Saad (2005), the
poor attitude toward mathematics is the reason why most of students can't participate in the class
and the reason why students take the subject again and again. Fuilarton (1993), said that “this
also partly because of the mentality that math is not for everyone and people think that math is
only for a selected few or the left - brained ones”. Stites (1993) stated that, “these are the reasons
why there are students who dislike the subject, Mathematics.”

The group learned about the three domains to study mathematics anxiety that
proposed by Strawderman. These are the social or motivational domain, intellectual or
educational domain, and psychological or emotional domain. It’ll help the students to surpass
their suffering towards the subject. And this study is added by Bilbase and Shashidar (2010);
they clearly stated that the social or motivational domain includes the behaviour of a person in a
family, friends, and society. Intellectual or educational domains are those influences that are re-
involved in nature. And, psychological or emotional domain is comprises by the faculties that are
affective in nature.
 CHAPTER III

Research Methodology

This chapter deals with the research method, research statement, interview, questionnaire,
construction validation, survey administration, population and sampling techniques, and data
gathering procedure.

Research Design

The research design that we choose is the Descriptive design of research. It is to distinguish
the significance of sanitation procedures and hygienic habit that will be use in the study,
particularly in the delineating a systematically status. According to Creswell, descriptive design
of research is collecting information about the present era. Accentuate is on describing rather
than judging. Descriptive research mainly concern with describing the nature or condition. This
method is used to depict the nature of a situation. The goal of descriptive research is to maintain
an accurate profile of the people, events, or situations. The researchers use this kind of research
design because of its suitability to the nature of the study.

Sampling Procedure

The chosen participants from this study are the students in Buting Senior High School. The
researchers look and chose thirty (30) students to become the participants for their opinion and
idea about the reasons why most students dislike the subject, Mathematics. Furthermore, the
researchers used a technique to gather up all this data, and this is by using some survey
questionnaires that will be answered by the participants. The results or the data that are collected
in the survey will reflect a great density about the reasons why most students dislike the
mathematics subject.
Research Instrument

Survey questionnaire was the research instrument that we used in conducting this study. The
questions are made in order to know the reason why most of the students in Buting Senior High
School dislike mathematics subject. It would also help us to know the ideas of the students about
the study. We used this kind of research instrument because it is way easier than the other
methods. The Survey questionnaire was for the students in Buting Senior High School.

Data analysis

The data is needed to be organized and analyzed well after collecting it. The data that was
accumulated from the survey is recorded in assembled orderly. The information gathered was
presented through pies and graphs. The outcome of research are exactly analyzed to assure the
authenticity of research and all the information was examine using descriptive statistics.
 CHAPTER IV

Presentation and Interpretation of DATA

This chapter presents and interprets the information that were collected by the researchers from
the research instrument that have used, which is the questionnaire answered by respondents.

1. What is the Demographic profile of the respondents in terms of Age?

Age
13%

16-17
18-20

87%

Figure 1: Out of 30 respondents, 87% were from 16-17 years old which is equivalent to 26
respondents and 13% were from 18-20 years old which is equivalent to 4 respondents.
2. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of Gender?

Gender

37%

Male
Female

63%

Figure 2: Out of 30 respondents, 37% were male which is equivalent to 11 respondents

and 63% were female which is equivalent to 19 respondents.
 3. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of Strand?

Sales
17% 16%

HUMSS
STEM
ICT
17% 16%
ABM
GAS
HE/TVL

17% 17%

Figure 3: The number of the respondents in each strand is equal which is equivalent to 5
respondents in every strand, so that the total number of respondents is 30.
 4. Is the Mathematics subjects can be a hindrance for you to excel in your academic?

Hindrance

47% YES
53% NO

Figure 4: Out of 30 respondents, 53% says yes that the subject Mathematics can be a hindrance
in their academic excellence which is equivalent to 16 respondents and 47% says no that the
subject Mathematics can be a hindrance in their academic excellence which is equivalent to 14
respondents.
 5. Rate the subject Mathematics in terms of difficulty.

Rate
3% 7%

Very Difficult
Difficult
43%
Average
47%
Easy

Figure 5 : Out of 30 respondents, 7% says that Mathematics subject is very difficult which is
equivalent to 2 respondents, 47% says that Mathematics subject is difficult which is equivalent to
14 respondents, 43% says that Mathematics subject is average which is equivalent to 13
respondents, and 3% says that Mathematics subject is easy which is equivalent to 1 respondent.
 6. What is the reason why you are not quite interested in Mathematics?

Reason
20%
Hard to Understand

46% 7% Hating Numbers

Don't want to solve problems
By teaching method
27%

Figure 6: Out of 30 respondents, 20% says that they are not into Mathematics subject because it
is hard to understand it’s equivalent to 6 respondents, 7% says that they are not into Mathematics
subject because they hate numbers it’s equivalent to 2 respondents, 46% says that they are not
into Mathematics subject because it depends on how the teacher discuss it which is equivalent to
14 respondents, and 27% says that they are not into Mathematics subject because they don’t want
to solve problems it’s equivalent to 8 respondents.
 7. If you get a failing grade in the subject Mathematics, what are you going to do for
you to overcome it?

What to do?
13%

Having a tutorial lesson

10%
Love the subject, so that the
subject will you.
Having a friend that is good in
13% Math to influence you
64%
Practice to solve Mathematics
problems

Figure 7 : Out of 30 students, 13% says that they are going to have a tutorial lesson to avoid
failing grades in the subject it is equivalent to 4 respondents, 10% says that they are going to
love the subject so that the subject will love them too it is equivalent to 4 respondents, 13% says
that they want to have a friend who is good in Mathematics and will influence or help them to
the subject that t it is equivalent to 4 respondents, and 64% says that they are going to practice in
solving some mathematics problem it is equivalent to 19 respondents.
 Chapter V

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

This chapter summarizes the study by getting the main idea of the topic. The
conclusion given was gathered from the result and observations on the outcomes of the study
which collected from the respondents in the effectiveness of having a failing grade in
Mathematics subject. Moreover, recommendations were base from the discovery and outcome of
the study.

Summary

This study was direct information and perspective from each respondents in our
survey questionnaire. The use of collected information was to know how their evaluation affects
the thirty respondents that hated Mathematics subject.

This research made use of descriptive method in gaining information and used surveys
to know the effect of answer to all the students of Buting Senior High School.

The study presents that most of the respondents are aware that Mathematics is the
common reason why most of the students have a failing grade.

Conclusion

Based on the data gathered and response accumulated, the researcher has come up
with the following conclusions:
 The respondents were equally distributed from selected Buting Senior High School
students are with majority age who are ranging 16 - 17 years old and are majority female
students.

According to the respondents, majority of them find that the subject Mathematics is
difficult. Buting Senior High School Students says that the reason why they are not quite
interested in Mathematics is it because of the way or method that their teachers using to teach
them. And also, Majority of the Buting Senior High School students says that the Mathematics
subjects can be a hindrance for them to excel in their academic performance. Most of them says
that if they got a failing grade in the subject Mathematics, they will going to practice solving
mathematics problems for them to overcome it.

Recommendations

As researchers in this study, we recommend the following for the people who are
involved in our study.

Students who dislike Mathematics subject- we recommended to you the good and bad factors
from our topic entitled why the students of BSHS dislike mathematics subject. The ways on how
to overcome it is by not avoiding it. Even though the majority says it’s difficult, practices makes
perfect with an additional of love and understanding will be a great progress for our mindset at
the subject Mathematics. Remember it is only the challenging part in our life.

Family- as a researchers, we recommend that it will able to help the students of BSHS if a part of
a family member will be the one who will able to guide their own daughter/son/brother/sister on
tutorials because family is our first and for most school who guides us from basic things in life,
and still guiding us.

Teachers- we recommend all the teachers in Mathematics to help the students to lessen their fear
in the subject, instead add their knowledge about the subject. Make some activities that will help
them to overcome their problems in the subject such as one on one tutorial, remedial, and etc. As
you can see based on our survey, the reason why most of the students dislike Mathematics is it
depends on how the teacher discuss it to them and make an unique strategy or technique in your
teaching method so that the students who dislike the subject will have an interest to listen and to
understand the subject.
 Reference Page

 Beleta M.G. (2008). Mathematics Anxiety of the Students.

 Factors that Affect Mathematics Achievements of a Students, Retrieved from

https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-3495263551/factors-that-affect-

mathematics-achievements-of-students

 Fahad, Z. (2015). Why Do Students Hate Mathematics?. Class 9. FHS Publishing club

 Lee, Q. (1995). Eureka: Thoughts on Math. Anvil.

 Math Anxiety and Working Memory, Retrieved from

http://www.philippinesbasiceducation.us/2014/07/anxiety-math-and-working-

memory.html

 Sabian, J. (2003 ). Case Study of Students with Mathematics Anxiety

 Top Ten Reasons Why Students Hate Mathematics, Retrieved from

http://www.rethinkpd.com.au/latest-news/top-ten-reasons-why-students-hate-

maths.html
 BUTING SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Accounting, Business, Management
A. Santos St. Buting, Pasig City

Dear Respondents,

The researchers are students in ABM-D, and currently conducting a study entitled “Why
Most of the Students in Buting Senior High School Dislike Mathematics Subject?” And since
you’ve been selected as one of the respondents in this survey, we would like to ask for your
participation by answering this survey questionnaire honestly and seriously. The data that you’ll
give will greatly contribute to the completion of our study.

Thank you very much!

Name: ____________________________________________________________ (optional)

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of Age?

16-17 18-20 20 above

2. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of Gender?

Female Male

3. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of Strand?

HUMSS STEM ICT ABM GAS HE/TVL/WELDING

4. Is the Mathematics subjects can be a hindrance for you to excel in your academic?
Yes No
5. Rate the subject Mathematics in terms of difficulty.
Very Difficult Difficult Average Easy Very Easy

6. What is the reason why you are not quite interested in Mathematics?
Hard to understand Hating numbers Don’t want to solve problems
By teaching method Others (please specify) ____________________

7. If you get a failing grade in the subject Mathematics, what are you going to do for you to
overcome it?
Having a tutorial lesson
Love the subject, so that the subject will love you
Having a friend that is good in the subject, so that you’ll be influenced by him/her
Practice to solve Mathematics problems