The study of the role of epistemological beliefs and attitude toward math on academic performance of Engineering students

Abstract

Improving students' academic performance is one of the most important goals that educational organizations are pursuing. Mathematical course is one of the major courses in engineering and affects the academic performance of students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of epistemological beliefs and attitude towards math on academic performance of students. The research method is descriptive and correlational. The statistical population of this study was all engineering students, undergraduate students at Birjand University. The sample was 181 people based on Morgan's table, which was selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. Wheeler's epistemological beliefs (2007) and attitude toward mathematics (Arias et al, 2014) were used to collect information. Results showed Epistemological beliefs of 40% and attitude toward mathematics account for 23% of students' academic performance, and the components of epistemological beliefs explain 22% of the variance of attitude toward mathematics.. As a result, paying attention to improving the beliefs and attitudes of engineering students towards mathematical courses improves their academic performance.

Keywords

• epistemological beliefs mathematical attitude academic performance students engineering