• Success and External Factors
• Specific Factors of Concern
• Actions to Implement

VIII. External Factors Impacting Student Learning

Skills and Time Commitment Recommendations

Success and External Factors

Societal attitudes, individual student attitudes, non-classroom activities and learning skills all impact upon a student’s success in mathematics at the college level. This impact upon learning is especially evident in mathematics and science because these disciplines demand intense concentration, connections to previous material, and a structured daily study plan outside the classroom. Because mathematics is the area where students often receive their first learning "set-back", mathematics learning suffers additionally from a variety of attitude obstacles. The crucial need is to create a better climate for learning mathematics; this involves students, parents, instructors, and society in general. Every discipline would benefit from a more supportive structure external to the actual teaching process; the learning of mathematics will not even be possible if the structure does not improve. Primary areas to address are:

• Support of mathematics instruction and learning by the essential societal support systems, such as school boards and administrators, parents and guardians, business and industry, elected officials, and the media.
• Creation of a positive atmosphere for learning mathematics
• Improvement of student motivation and attitudes towards mathematics
• Attention to learning skills
• Establishment of higher, more demanding expectations
• Adjustment of homework to increase effectiveness
• Recognition that students must put education before part-time work in after-school jobs
• Encouragement of more parental/home involvement that is supported by teachers and school
• Improvement of advising/counseling of students

How a student handles the external demands often is determined before he/she enters college. The crucial need is to provide an effective climate for learning mathematics during the pre-college experience that will build a foundation for later work: this involves students, parents, educators, public leaders, and society in general.

Specific Factors of Concern

1. Societal Attitudes: Today’s students study mathematics in an environment with societal attitudes that are often indifferent and/or hostile to the learning of mathematics. For some people, mathematics is revered and feared, and for others, it and those who study it are ridiculed. Poor performance in mathematics is socially acceptable. These public perceptions encourage low performance expectations in mathematics instead of the high expectations that are needed.
2. Student Attitudes and Motivation: All too many students enter college with poor attitudes and limited motivation for learning additional mathematics. There are many reasons given for this result: unfavorable prior school experiences, inadequate prior achievement, authoritarian instructional model, view of mathematics as an unending list of rules and procedures to be memorized, attitudes of teachers, etc. These students usually elect to take as little mathematics as possible, thus restricting or eliminating for them careers in most technological and scientific areas.
3. Learning Skills: Do students entering South Carolina colleges possess the appropriate study, listening, and test-taking skills for successful performance in college mathematics? According to a recent survey of their mathematics instructors, many students were found to be deficient. The finding is reinforced by case studies comparing students in Japan, Germany, and the United States as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). German and Japanese students were found to spend a significant amount of time in a variety of after-school academic activities related to their schoolwork. American students, on the other hand, do very little homework – a fact that was identified by both parents and teachers. United States teachers also add that
   
   

   "many students seem uncertain about what studying entails, demonstrate a limited repertoire of strategies for studying, and are not prepared to do academic work other than short assignments outside of class."(KAPPAN, March, 1998, p. 529).

Could the inadequate experience of our students with homework and studying be related to over-involvement in after-school jobs and/or extracurricular activities?

Actions to Implement

Public Policy Leaders

• School boards, state school officials, the Legislature, and the Governor must demonstrate their visible support for a high quality program of mathematics education through their actions. Significant change in the public perception of mathematics without this support is unlikely.

Parental / Home Involvement

• Parents or guardians must continuously monitor and take an interest in the educational progress of their children, communicating with the school and teachers as appropriate and supporting the educational endeavor over children’s complaints.

Educator Involvement

• Educators from classroom teachers to administrators to school boards must set higher standards and more demanding expectations for the teaching and learning of mathematics at all levels.
• Educators must give accurate, honest advice to students concerning the role of mathematics in their continuing education and in their career choices.

Student Motivation and Attitudes

• Teachers need to present mathematics as exciting and interesting.
• The mathematics curriculum should connect mathematics to the real world and include topics that are relevant to the needs and interests of the student.
• Teachers, using representatives from business, industry and government, should demonstrate how mathematics is a key which opens doors to many different careers.
• Teacher attitudes toward mathematics affect student attitudes. Teachers should be aware of the positive role model that they can set for students.

Study / Learning Skills, including Homework

• From middle school grades on, students need to have continuous instruction in
  
  
• learning how to take good notes
• learning how to study for and take a comprehensive examination
• learning to read a mathematics textbook with comprehension and understanding
• learning how to evaluate their own work
• learning to communicate with mathematics orally and in writing
• developing organizational skills and learning how to manage time in mathematical work
  
  
• The quality of homework assignments needs to be improved. Homework should emphasize not only the development of concepts and skills, but also the ability to synthesize and integrate these concepts and skills and to use them with understanding.

Proper Priorities

• Schoolwork shall take priority over employment in after-school jobs or extra-curricular activities.

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Last updated: May 11, 1999
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