Understanding attitudes towards mathematics and perceived difficulty of word problems for grade-2 students completing a summer activity

Abstract

 This contribution addresses the issue of summer learning loss in mathematics and possible ways to mitigate it. In summer, the students (and their families) are left alone in dealing with mathematical exercises and problems. One of the assumptions that grounds the project is that mathematical storytelling can improve students’ attitudes and positive dispositions towards mathematical word problems. We analyse the attitudes, the perceived difficulty and the values that emerge in grade-2 students solving mathematics problems on a web-app during the summer break. The students’ answers have been collected via audio recordings, and they have been analyzed once transcribed. The findings reveal that those who have more positive attitudes, and in particular declare to have liked the activity the most, also give more elaborate answers to the tasks, and these findings confirm the crucial role of attitudes in mathematics problem solving processes.