Mathematics is one of those school subjects that you love or hate: growing up tends to taste less and less, but the school system in which we are inserted affects a lot on the perception we have of ours “mathematical identity“, That is, of being brought or not for the subject. A study conducted in six different European countries has investigated the perception that students have of their mathematical ability, trying to understand why many lose motivation in the study or cannot get satisfactory results.
The factors that determine the motivation. The research, conducted between 2020 and 2024 involving 50 schools in Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Portugal and Serbia, investigated how the motivation of the students (from 8 to 10 years of age) was connected to their school performance and influenced by the environment and the judgments of parents and professors.
In general, it emerged that in the countries that did not provide for the use of votes for the first years of school (such as Norway or Sweden) The interest of students towards mathematics was independent of their school success in the subject: “The Norwegian students felt” brought for mathematics “not so much for the votes they obtained, as for the interest they nourished towards the subject and the usefulness they recognized them”, explains the research coordinator Jelena Radioลกiฤ.
In general, the perception of one’s skill was very influenced by the environment and the expectations of the professors, parents and society. Another detail that emerged from the analysis is that, normally, The males feel they are more brought for mathematics than females.
The important role of school and educators. School and teachers can help students love mathematics and feel brought: “It is important to encourage children to use their experiences in the study of the subject, making them participate and making them feel able to understand it”, concludes Radioลกiฤ.
