This research seeks to explore the attitudes of Chinese and Australian senior secondary school students towards mathematics and statistics. An investigation is carried out to determine the relationships between these attitudes and certain factors. A preliminary analysis of the curriculum in China and Australia revealed that the subject in common in Year 12 is the study of statistics. Therefore, students’ attitudes towards the study of statistics will receive particular attention here. This research project outlines the social environment, the family environment and the individual status of Chinese and Australian students. A comparative study, an empiricist approach, an interpretive approach and a statistical analysis methodology were used to analyze the data. However, other conclusions of this study, such as sex not having an effect upon students’ attitudes towards learning mathematics and statistics, has not been previously concluded.
(Tuesday 13th, 16:30-18:00)
Bingshu Wu (Australia)