Student’s Motivation Towards A Mathematics Online Magazine

Abstract

Mathematics is a core subject that need to be acquired and applied by students in real life. However, the teaching and learning of mathematics is still focused on examinations. As a result, students beliefs about mathematics are limited to just numbers, calculations, abstract concepts and meaningless rules. Therefore, there is a need to help students form better views about mathematics that is not confined to classroom walls. One of the recommended ways to achieve this is through multimedia in the classroom as it increases interactivity and helps students to be more independent learners. With this in mind, a mathematics online magazine christened ‘Dunia Matematik’ was developed to encourage students to view mathematics as recreational, useful and fun. It also attempts to expose students to mathematics in life through its many articles and activities. A third aim of the online magazine was to be a platform for students to interact and communicate about mathematics. The development of the online magazine is based explicitly on an Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction (ARCS) Model for Motivation. This study uncovers students’ motivation towards the online magazine based on the ARCS Model. Students show good motivation towards the online magazine with exception to their comment and e-forum posting activities and their ability to control navigation of the online magazine. This study has uncovered a future for mathematics online magazine in the classroom so students can connect mathematics with the real world, have an appreciation towards the beauty of mathematics and develop good attitudes towards mathematics as warranted by the Malaysian Mathematics Curriculum.