| A large portion of the college student population often struggle with learning pre-calculus mathematics. There are a multitude of reasons why students struggle with mathematics, one of which is having a general dislike, often expressed as a hatred, of mathematics. When students enroll in a mathematics course with preconditioned judgments, it is quite likely to affect their confidence and success rate in the course. This study will investigate the origins of when, where, and why the aversion to mathematics began for students. Students from Intermediate Algebra (M102) courses (154) and a Calculus II (M166) course (10) voluntarily filled out the three-part research survey. The first part was a semantic differential measuring students' feelings toward mathematics courses, the second part was a 20-question Mathematics Attitude Scale, and the third part consisted of five open-response questions exploring where a student's like or dislike of mathematics originated.;Quantitative analysis of the first two parts of the survey showed significant differences (p < 0.0001 level) in feelings and attitudes toward mathematics between M102 students who scored low (sum less than 60) on the Mathematics Attitude Scale, M102 students who scored high (sum greater than or equal to 60) on the Mathematics Attitude Scale, and M166 students (all of whom scored high on the Mathematics Attitude Scale). This came as no surprise to the researcher. An interesting side note is that 73% of the M102 students scored low on the Mathematics Attitude Scale.;Qualitative analysis of the five open-response questions suggests that teacher characteristics are the most influential aspects in determining a student's like or dislike of mathematics. These include positive characteristics, which turn students on to mathematics, as well as negative characteristics that drive students away from an appreciation of mathematics. Another important aspect in learning mathematics, from a student's perspective, is showing the applicability of mathematics to real-life situations. |
