Changing high school students’ attitudes towards mathematics in a summer camp: Happiness matters

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine if and how high school students’ attitudes towards mathematics can be positively changed through a summer math village experience and whether happiness exerts an influence on this change process. We employed a mixed research design in our study, and examined an existing intervention. We administered the Mathematics Attitude Scale and the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale to 57 students before and after they attended summer camp at a math village. We also conducted individual interviews with three lecturers and focus group interviews with 12 students to supplement the quantitative measures. The results indicated that the intervention had a positive impact on the students’ attitudes and approach towards mathematics and their personal improvement process. The results further indicated that happy students benefited more from the math village in terms of changes to their mathematics attitudes.