COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NORWEGIAN AND ENGLISH SECONDARY STUDENTS' ATTITUDE TOWARDS MATHEMATICS

This presentation reports on a comparative study of English and Norwegian pupils' attitude toward mathematics, using a mainly qualitative questionnaire to develop a deeper understanding of the factors that may shape and influence pupil attitude. Albeit based on a small statistical sample, in both countries students' attitudes has very similar trends between grades 7/8 and 10/11. However, pupils' qualitative comments showed that the most influential factors were due to pupils' experiences in their respective mathematics classrooms and larger school environments. It is argued that by comparing it was possible to deepen our understanding of pupil attitude as a socio-cultural construct, and as a 'lived' construct influenced by the meanings that are made in different contexts.