Measuring Anxiety Level of Failure Science Students in Performing Calculus Subject

  • Authors

    • J. A. Wahab
    • N. F. Mohamad Razi
    • M. M. H. Mohammad Hamzah
    • A. Z. Azmi
    • N. H. Nasrudin
    2018-12-09
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.33.23489
  • Mathematics, Mathematics Anxiety, Test Anxiety, Graduate on Time (GoT).
  • Abstract

    Nowadays, mathematics has become an important subject in various fields. In UiTM Tapah Campus, Calculus is one of the compulsory subject must be taken by science student. However, majority of the students not enjoyable to enroll this subject and have negative thought that slowly becomes obstacle to them to graduate on time due to failure in this subject. Anxiety has been identified as the main reason among failure students. Thus, a set of questionnaire to measure anxiety level among them been constructed consists of three main section (General Information, Test Anxiety, Mathematics Anxiety) and been distributed through Google form in order to get the response from students. The data have been analyzed using IBM SPSS (V23). Several selection of data analysis method was used to answer the objectives for this study which are reliability test, descriptive statistics and ANOVA. Findings shows that student with lower grade (E or F) tended to have higher math and test anxiety compared to higher grade students (D and D+). Thus, lecturers can focus on the most affected students and give them the most exposure to mathematical activities.  It also benefits university to achieve university target in Graduate on Time (GoT) students’ percentage.

     

     

  • References

    1. [1] Kamal, M., & Bener, A. (2009). Factors contributing to school failure among school children in very fast developing Arabian Society. Oman Medical Journal 24(3), 212–217.

      [2] Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi Malaysia. (2015). Enhancing university board governance and effectiveness: University transformation programme green book. Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi Malaysia.

      [3] Erin, A. M., & Sian, L. B. (2012). Math anxiety: Who has it, why it develops, and how to guard against it. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 16(8), 404-406.

      [4] Dorothy, E. A., Edith, N. N., Joachim, C. O., & Uchenna, N. E., (2015). Influence of socio-economic status and classroom climate on mathematics anxiety of primary school pupils. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 205, 693-701.

      [5] Sarah, R. (2006). Overcoming math anxiety. Mathitudes 1(1), 1-4.

      [6] David, W. (1988). Special needs in ordinary schools: Developing mathematical and scientific thinking in young children. Mackays of Catham PLC.

      [7] Nur Azlina, A. A., Ku Fauziah, K. B., & Angelina, R. V. (2010). Mathematics anxiety amongst the malays students: A case study in UiTM Melaka. Universiti Teknologi MARA.

      [8] Sahin, K., & Ahmet, R. (2010). Mathematics anxiety according to the middle school students’ achievement motivation and social comparison. Education Journal 131(1), 54-63.

      [9] Alyssa, R. G. D. H., Joseph, M. F., María, D. V. C., & John, D. M. (2017). Pre-service elementary teachers' achievement goals and their relationship to math anxiety. Learning and Individual Differences 60, 40-45.

      [10] Frieder, L. S., Stephan, E. V., Jennifer, D., & Roland, H. G. (2018). Math anxiety, intelligence, and performance in mathematics: Insights from the German adaptation of the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS-G). Learning and Individual Differences 61, 109-119.

      [11] Laura, I. (2007). Strategies for reducing math anxiety in post-secondary students. Proceedings of the Sixth Annual College of Education Research Conference, pp. 30-35.

      [1] Richardson, F. C., & Suinn, R. M. (1972). The mathematics anxiety rating scale: Psychometric data. Journal of Counselling Psychology 19(6), 551-554.

      [2] Elizabeth, F., & Penelope, L. P. (1986). Teacher-student interactions and sex-related differences in learning mathematics. Teaching and Teacher Education 2(1), 19-42.

      [3] Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory. McGraw-Hill.

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    A. Wahab, J., F. Mohamad Razi, N., M. H. Mohammad Hamzah, M., Z. Azmi, A., & H. Nasrudin, N. (2018). Measuring Anxiety Level of Failure Science Students in Performing Calculus Subject. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(4.33), 74-77. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.33.23489

    Received date: 2018-12-08

    Accepted date: 2018-12-08

    Published date: 2018-12-09