Tatag Y.E. Siswono, Ahmad W. Kohar, Dian Savitri, Sugi Hartono
Engineering students' beliefs about mathematics and its learning, particularly in relation to context-based problem solving, remain relatively unresearched. The aim of the study described in this article was to explore students' beliefs on the nature of mathematics and of learning mathematics. As well, the students' performances on context-based mathematics problems were investigated. The research subjects were 80 college students studying first year mechanical engineering. Data were collected through students' responses to a mathematics-related belief questionnaire and students' performances on two mathematical problems with different levels of context. The questionnaire consisted of 17 incomplete statements, each of which had three options examining the nature of mathematics and learning mathematics. Results showed that the students tend to hold beliefs about the nature of mathematics that are instrumentalist and learning mathematics as an active construction of understanding. Also, the authors found that the students' performances on the problem with camouflage context were better than those with a clear or authentic context. © 2017 WIETE.
Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia
