Mathematical Self-Confidence of High School Students: A Study in Costa Rica

The “mathematical self-confidence” of the Costa Rican secondary education students is studied using the self-confidence subscale of Fennema and Sherman (1976), and the existence of differences in this variable by sex, educational level and the school geographical location is analyzed as well. The p...

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Main Authors: Luis Gerardo Meza-Cascante, Evelyn Agüero-Calvo, Zuleyka Suárez-Valdés-Ayala
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica 2018-10-01
Series:Revista Electrónica Educare
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Online Access:http://revista.una.ac.cr/index.php/EDUCARE/article/view/9158
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author Luis Gerardo Meza-Cascante
Evelyn Agüero-Calvo
Zuleyka Suárez-Valdés-Ayala
author_facet Luis Gerardo Meza-Cascante
Evelyn Agüero-Calvo
Zuleyka Suárez-Valdés-Ayala
author_sort Luis Gerardo Meza-Cascante
collection DOAJ
description The “mathematical self-confidence” of the Costa Rican secondary education students is studied using the self-confidence subscale of Fennema and Sherman (1976), and the existence of differences in this variable by sex, educational level and the school geographical location is analyzed as well. The participants in the study were 2984 students (51% female) from the seventh to the eleventh year of official public day schools of the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica. The participating schools were selected by simple stratified random sampling and by conglomerates, according to the location area (69.5% urban), and according to the population by province (19.5% Alajuela, 12.5% Cartago, 9.3% Guanacaste, 10.6% Heredia, 10.3% Limon, 9.4% Puntarenas, 28.4% San Jose). The students selected for the study in each school sampled were those belonging to the second group of each educational level (18.9% seventh, 20.5% eighth, 21.4% ninth, 19% tenth, 20.2% eleventh). The results suggest that, jointly, about 78.9% of the students show between high and moderate levels of self confidence. They also indicate the existence of differences in the level of mathematical self confidence according to gender, with lower levels for women, with a medium magnitude of differences. The findings also suggest that there are no differences in the level of mathematical self-confidence among the tenth and eleventh level students, but there are in the ninth level; the latter having the highest index of mathematical self-confidence of the three. The study did not detect differences in the level of mathematical self-confidence among students according to the location of the school. The results suggest, at least, the following lines of research: to delve into the causes of the differences detected in the level of mathematical self-confidence by gender and those that may explain why the level of mathematical self-confidence decreases in the students of Diversified Education.
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spelling doaj-art-6418698d29d8472787c19386adfbfe842025-08-20T01:57:13ZengUniversidad Nacional, Costa RicaRevista Electrónica Educare1409-42582018-10-0123310.15359/ree.23-1.39158Mathematical Self-Confidence of High School Students: A Study in Costa RicaLuis Gerardo Meza-Cascante0Evelyn Agüero-Calvo1Zuleyka Suárez-Valdés-Ayala2Instituto Tecnológico de Costa RicaInstituto Tecnológico de Costa RicaInstituto Tecnológico de Costa RicaThe “mathematical self-confidence” of the Costa Rican secondary education students is studied using the self-confidence subscale of Fennema and Sherman (1976), and the existence of differences in this variable by sex, educational level and the school geographical location is analyzed as well. The participants in the study were 2984 students (51% female) from the seventh to the eleventh year of official public day schools of the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica. The participating schools were selected by simple stratified random sampling and by conglomerates, according to the location area (69.5% urban), and according to the population by province (19.5% Alajuela, 12.5% Cartago, 9.3% Guanacaste, 10.6% Heredia, 10.3% Limon, 9.4% Puntarenas, 28.4% San Jose). The students selected for the study in each school sampled were those belonging to the second group of each educational level (18.9% seventh, 20.5% eighth, 21.4% ninth, 19% tenth, 20.2% eleventh). The results suggest that, jointly, about 78.9% of the students show between high and moderate levels of self confidence. They also indicate the existence of differences in the level of mathematical self confidence according to gender, with lower levels for women, with a medium magnitude of differences. The findings also suggest that there are no differences in the level of mathematical self-confidence among the tenth and eleventh level students, but there are in the ninth level; the latter having the highest index of mathematical self-confidence of the three. The study did not detect differences in the level of mathematical self-confidence among students according to the location of the school. The results suggest, at least, the following lines of research: to delve into the causes of the differences detected in the level of mathematical self-confidence by gender and those that may explain why the level of mathematical self-confidence decreases in the students of Diversified Education.http://revista.una.ac.cr/index.php/EDUCARE/article/view/9158Matemáticasautoconfianzaangustia matemáticaenseñanza secundaria autoconfianza matemática
spellingShingle Luis Gerardo Meza-Cascante
Evelyn Agüero-Calvo
Zuleyka Suárez-Valdés-Ayala
Mathematical Self-Confidence of High School Students: A Study in Costa Rica
Revista Electrónica Educare
Matemáticas
autoconfianza
angustia matemática
enseñanza secundaria
autoconfianza matemática
title Mathematical Self-Confidence of High School Students: A Study in Costa Rica
title_full Mathematical Self-Confidence of High School Students: A Study in Costa Rica
title_fullStr Mathematical Self-Confidence of High School Students: A Study in Costa Rica
title_full_unstemmed Mathematical Self-Confidence of High School Students: A Study in Costa Rica
title_short Mathematical Self-Confidence of High School Students: A Study in Costa Rica
title_sort mathematical self confidence of high school students a study in costa rica
topic Matemáticas
autoconfianza
angustia matemática
enseñanza secundaria
autoconfianza matemática
url http://revista.una.ac.cr/index.php/EDUCARE/article/view/9158
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