Analysis of philosophy of mathematics activities on students’ attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics

Abstract

When the strong relationship between mathematics and philosophy, behavioral objectives from the secondary mathematics education curriculum of Ministry of National Education and the goal of the philosophy of mathematics is considered, it is realized that there is no scientific research scrutinizing the philosophy of mathematics activities. From this perspective, it is important to investigate the effects of these activities on the attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics. This study has two aims. One of them is conceptualize the Philosophy of Mathematics Activity and the other one is specify the effects of these activities on 9th grade students’ attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics. As the quantitative research methodology pretest-posttest control- experimental design, as the qualitative research methodology, phenomenological study formed the methodology. At the end of the treatment semi-structured interviews were held to collect further data about attitudes and beliefs. At the end of the analyses, it is demonstrated that Philosophy of Mathematics Activities increases students’ attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics.