An Investigation of What Korean Students Valued with regards to Mathematics and Mathematics Learning: A Study with Sixth and Ninth Graders

Abstract

What an individual values and regards as important has a significant impact on his or her learning. Classroom instruction would be even more effective if what the teacher regards as important in his or her pedagogical practice are aligned with what students regard as important too. Given this background, this study sought to find out what Korean students valued about mathematics and mathematics learning using a questionnaire developed by Seah (2005). The participants were 409 students from Grade 6 and 407 students from Grade 9 in Korea. The results of this study showed that students put the biggest emphasis on ideological aspects of mathematics, specifically rationalism, among mathematical v..