Attitude of Nigerian primary school students towards mathematics subject

Abstract

Attitude is an affective variable that can affect the academic life of students significantly. In Nigeria, attitude in mathematics is among the factors influencing performance in math’s subject, especially among primary school students. The study aimed at identifying factors that indicate the student’s negative attitude in math’s subject, the population of the study is 1,626 from 6 selected primary schools in Nasarawa Local Government Area Kano, Nigeria. A sample of 384 respondents was selected using the Krejcie and Morgan table. A Mathematics Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ) was completed by the respondents which measure the students affect, behavior and cognitive aspects, all the data collected were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS). The results show the respondents are experiencing a negative attitude in math’s subject and it is recommended that parents and teachers are required to provide some supportive measures for changing the student's attitude. If a negative attitude among students is not addressed, the career of students will be very limited and their math’s performance will be relatively poor as well.