Children's mathematics-related beliefs: An exploratory qualitative study in an Indonesian elementary school

Yoppy Wahyu Purnomo, Pramita Putri Arifin, Rina Dyah Rahmawati and Ardiani Putri Rahmawati
Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia

One of the factors that influences how students learn mathematics is their mathematics-related beliefs. Mathematics-related beliefs are important, but in Indonesia, there has been little research on mathematics beliefs in elementary schools and in relation to grade level and gender. This study aims to determine the general profile of elementary school students' beliefs related to mathematics in relation to grade level and gender. The approach used was exploratory-qualitative, with research illustrations selected from four students. Data were obtained from drawing analysis, interviews, and documentation. The results showed that: (1) the general profile of elementary school students' beliefs about mathematics education tends to be a mixture of traditional and constructivist beliefs; (2) traditional beliefs dominate the beliefs held by students about themselves; (3) the general profile of beliefs about the social context is traditional beliefs; (4) elementary school students' beliefs related to mathematics in relation to grade level show no special differences; and (5) elementary school students' mathematics beliefs in relation to gender show differences in beliefs related to mathematical abilities and orientation-goals.
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Authors: Dr Yoppy Wahyu Purnomo (corresponding author) is a professor at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. He teaches postgraduate courses such as elementary school mathematics, educational research issues, writing and publishing scientific papers, and multivariate statistics. His research interests include teacher professional development, elementary school mathematics, didactical engineering, and numeracy. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6216-3855 Email: yoppy.wahyu@uny.ac.id Pramita Putri Arifin is a research assistant. She is a student from the elementary school teacher education department at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. Email: pramitaputri.2019@student.uny.ac.id Rina Dyah Rahmawati is a lecturer at Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta. She teaches elementary mathematics courses, elementary learning methodologies, and elementary school curriculum development. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in the Department of Elementary Education at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3390-6303 Email: rinadyah_r@upy.ac.id Ardiani Putri Rahmawati is a research assistant. She is a student from the elementary school teacher education department at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. Email: ardianiputri.2020@student.uny.ac.id Please cite as: Purnomo, Y. W., Arifin, P. P., Rahmawati, R. D. & Rahmawati, A. P. (2024). Children's mathematics-related beliefs: An exploratory qualitative study in an Indonesian elementary school. Issues in Educational Research, 34(3), 1148-1169. http://www.iier.org.au/iier34/purnomo.pdf