Attitudes of Form 1 students towards group work in mathematics

Abstract

The aim of this study was to create a programme which enables us to explore Form 1 students' attitudes towards group work in mathematics. The sample for the study consisted of 46 boys from a boys' church school in Malta. The actual research was spread out over the 2004/2005 scholastic year. Results show that 78% of the students concerned have a positive attitude towards group work in mathematics, 11 % have a negative attitude whilst 11 % have a neutral attitude. We studied attitudes by taking into consideration various viewpoints; the main being how students prefer working in a mathematics classroom, what learning strategies they opt for and whether they find group work helpful. The mostly preferred way of working during mathematics is in pairs whilst the second preferred is working in groups. A very small number of students prefer working alone. The research shows that the majority of the students prefer a mathematics lesson with group work rather than a normal lesson. Most of the students found group work helpful and throughout the study, nearly all the students were very satisfied in their groups. Overall, the gathered results show that the students have a positive attitude towards group work in mathematics.