A Study on the Influence of the Affective Domain on the Attitudes of Middle School Students toward Mathematics from a Gender Perspective (2024)

3.1.1. Coding Strategy

As mentioned previously, Atlas TI software was used to carry out the coding procedure. Given that this study was part of a student’s requirements for completing their master’s degree, coding was performed by the student under the supervision of her advisor. First, answers collected from each instrument were added as separate documents into the software. A gender label was assigned to each quotation based on the participant who wrote it (female or male student). Secondly, exhaustive coding was performed among the responses based on the topics mentioned by the students and the concepts related to the learning domains [1]. Next, these codes where repeatedly refined until a likeness was identified with the concepts reviewed in the literature. Finally, they were grouped into ten common categories. These categories were created based on both the literature and common themes that presented themselves among the participants’ answers. The codes concerning the affective domain were categorized into interest/enjoyment of mathematics, mathematical self-concept, and the perceived value/utility of mathematics [16]. Meanwhile, the relationship between gender and mathematics was studied by three groupings: peer beliefs, adult beliefs, and stereotypes of people working in STEM [18]. Four additional categories were created based on the emerging themes: contextual elements and events, cognitive skills, study areas, and attitudes. Table 1 presents the total frequencies of the generated codes according to the instrument with which they were identified.

In Table 1, it can be observed that most of the 574 quotations are distributed among two categories. Firstly, most of them encompass the interest/enjoyment category, with a total of 209 quotations; secondly, they encompass the self-concept category, with 145 quotations. These frequencies suggest that both of these affective domain elements could have the most significant influence on middle school students’ attitudes toward mathematics in. Thus, this trend is further explored amongst the results of each instrument, as presented in the following sections. The criteria used to select the examples of students’ opinions are derived from their clarity, the depth of their reasoning, and the connections they manage to make. Each participation was coded based on the collection instrument, the gender of the student, the student’s group (A,B,C,D), and a random number assigned to order responses (e.g., PS.C.M.6 as the abbreviated form of Post-test.GroupC.Male.6). In the case of the participants who underwent the intervention, rather than identifying the group they belonged in, the day and question was also added (e.g., IN.F.3.D5.Q1 as the abbreviated form of Intervention.Female.3.Day5.Question1). This was completed with the purpose of identifying participants’ answers while maintaining their anonymity.

3.1.2. Pretest: Question about the Use of Mathematics in the Workspace

This open question asks students to indicate who uses mathematics in their job from the two images presented—whether the man or the woman. In total, 75% of the students chose the man. This aligns with Bond’s [6] findings, in which the exposure to stereotypical models reinforces the idea of men as commonly working in STEM fields. The said approach explains why most of the participants naturally envisioned the man as a STEM professional and validates the strong influence of the stereotypical male role model in STEM fields. On the other hand, Ikkatai et al. [21] suggest that the lack of female role models is related to women’s disinterest in STEM, adding to the notion that selecting the man reflects the image of a traditional role model.

Participants justified their decisions on who uses mathematics in their job based on the individual’s surroundings and expressions. In total, 80% of the students selected the person working in STEM based on the objects around them and their expressions. They noticed that the man was using a cell phone possibly as a calculator, while the woman might have been using a notebook for writing various procedures. Additionally, the other 20% of the participants related the bodily and facial expressions of both individuals to the difficulty or displeasure associated with mathematics. For example, participant PR.D.F.8 chose the man because the woman appeared relaxed, whereas he seemed “more focused and stressed because mathematics can be difficult at times”. In this way, both concentration and focus were associated with the study of mathematics.

Another topic mentioned was gender’s influence on who works with mathematics. About 11% of the participants mentioned gender in their results, all stating that it has no influence on working with mathematics; from these participants, two thirds were female students. For instance, student PR.D.M.7 wrote, “I chose the woman because many people think that only men can work using mathematics in their daily lives, but women have the same opportunities to work in a company using numbers and mathematics”. Such responses demonstrate the students’ awareness of gender stereotypes in STEM and a desire to transcend the constraints imposed by their own experience of the equitable abilities of men and women. In the literature, it has been reported that the awareness of gender stereotypes in STEM increases during middle school, impacting academic performance [22] and warranting further study [23]. It has been suggested that promoting the awareness of gender stereotypes in STEM might improve STEM identity and, consequently, improve mathematical self-perception [24].

3.1.3. Intervention: Questionnaire about Self-Perception in STEM Careers

The intervention involved watching a video of a STEM professional in each session; afterwards, students in this group responded to the two questions that made up the questionnaire about self-perception in STEM careers. As stated above, the presented examples of students’ opinions are derived from their clarity, depth of their reasoning, and connections they managed to establish.

Regarding the first question, “what ideas could motivate you to choose a career in STEM?”, a total of 153 responses were obtained. Among them, the most prominent category was interest/enjoyment, with 96 quotations corresponding to it. When searching for reasons to pursue careers in STEM, the participants referred to the motivations of the individual featured in the viewed video. Approximately 27% of the students referred to their prior interests as a source of motivation. For example, participant IN.F.3.D2.Q1 referred to their favorite subjects by writing, “If I like design and physics, I could become an electronic engineer”.

Another relevant category was interest/enjoyment of mathematics. The responses reflect that liking mathematics is a primary motivating factor. Among them, 10 participants express a neutral interest/enjoyment of mathematics (30.8% male, 69.2% female), 19 lean toward a negative attitude (31.6% male, 68.4% female), and 67 manifest a positive interest/enjoyment of mathematics (35.4% male, 64.8% female). For instance, student IN.M.3.D2.Q1 identified with the person in the video by stating, “Her favorite subjects [the person in the video] were mathematics and physics, and those are my favorite subjects”. In contrast, student IN.F.9.D7.Q1 mentioned that “nothing [can motivate her] because she doesn’t like those things, but if someone did like them, there would be a higher chance of choosing [a STEM career]”.

The value/utility category was less frequent, but it was still present in the collected data. Out of the 23 responses that corresponded to value/utility, most were related to professional growth. Meanwhile, four students indicated that making money and having fun serve as motivators for pursuing STEM careers (50% male, 50% female), particularly in technology-related professions. The idea of helping others was also prevalent among 8 students (75% male, 25% female). Student IN.F.1.D1.Q1 mentioned that her motivation could be “the feeling that I’m working very hard for useful things that will benefit society”. Another participant, IN.M.1.D5.Q1, wrote, “STEM has a lot to offer, and you can go to places with engineering, mathematics, science and technology”. Viewing STEM careers as tools for a humanistic impact on society was not exclusive to females, which was in conflict with the expected results based on the literature [25]. The results suggest that STEM careers are seen as a means of upward social mobility, which partially characterizes the interest in pursuing STEM careers in Mexico [26].

Regarding the second question, “Do you think you could succeed in this occupation? Why?”, 90 answers corresponded to the self-concept. Moreover, 60% of the responses conveyed that they could not succeed in the profession because they were not “good” or skilled in it. Student IN.F.3.D4.Q2 commented, “I don’t consider myself good at this type of thing, so I focus on what I [do] consider myself good at”. Of the quotations with codes indicating a lack of skill, knowledge, confidence, or understanding, 73% were written by female students. Conversely, 60% of the quotations coded for a positive self-concept (ability, success, and confidence) were written by male students. This confirms the presence of a lower self-concept among female students in the pretest and in the literature [1]. These results are also linked to classroom dynamics, which favor different attitudes and actions between male and female students [27].

Responses with a high self-concept include comments such as “Yes, because I like building things, like Legos!” by participant IN.F.6.D7.Q2 or “Yes, because my dad is an app developer, and I’m good at it too, so I’d like to have that career” by student IN.M.5.D6.Q2. These responses indicate students’ belief that they could succeed due to their interest and skills, referring to a contextual, social, or academic element that reinforces their talent in STEM. Considering this, interest/enjoyment can be linked to the self-perceived ability in mathematics, which corresponds to the self-concept.

As an observation made by the researcher during the intervention itself, it is highlighted that the second question provoked an abundance of negative comments. These comments, spoken out loud by students, emphasize their written answers. Students, mainly female students, were vocal and confident in not pursuing STEM careers due to STEM’s difficulty and their perceived inability. Once more, this is in agreement with the literature, which reports that women have a lower mathematical self-concept than men [1].

3.1.4. Post-Test: Questionnaire about the Use and Ease of Mathematics

For the post-test, the question regarding the use of mathematics in the workspace was reused, and the following open-ended question was added: “Beyond the time dedicated to it, who finds mathematics more challenging?” This question was included due to the frequent mention of the difficulty of mathematics during the intervention and due to the results from the pretest, which indicated that female to perceive mathematics as more challenging. Therefore, it was decided to explore possible gender stereotypes that could lead to these results.

The most frequent codes in this section are consistent with those in the pretest. Contextual inference was used by 26% of the participants as the main method to determine who works with mathematics. By observing the posture and expressions of the individuals in the pictures, students associated mathematics with attention, stress, or lack of relaxation. A student coded as PS.D.F.7 commented, “I think it’s A because I feel that mathematics can be confusing or difficult, and image A looks just like me in [math] class”.

The quotations that corresponded to the self-concept presented a characteristic trend. Among the 26 responses that were coded for the self-concept, all of them presented a negative perspective toward their skills in mathematics (50% male, 50% female). The most frequent theme was the difficulty of mathematics, especially in the second open-ended question. Among those who believed the question was related to gender, fourteen students referred to equality (6.3% male, 85.7% female), while six students chose one gender over the other (100% male, 0% female). In terms of equality, participant PS.D.F.9 wrote, “I couldn’t say if it’s more difficult for someone because it depends on each person, everyone learns in their own way and at their own pace”. Further, 29 responses mentioned that laziness, forgetfulness, and procrastination are characteristics of people who find mathematics challenging (65.5% male, 34.5% female). Student PS.B.M.1 wrote, “It’s difficult for people who don’t apply themselves and don’t want to learn”.

Being among those who selected a gender over the other, participant PS.B.F.7 wrote, “maybe for female students [mathematics is more difficult]; I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a female and I find it a bit difficult, but I’ve seen more male students understand it than female students”. A different participant, student PS.D.M.6, expressed, “I think it’s men because at an early age, everything distracts us, and women are organized from a young age, so I think a woman would learn mathematics faster than men.” Another student stated that men are interested in topics like soccer; in contrast, a different student commented that in their classroom, female students struggle more with mathematics. Thus, there is no consensus, but there is a tendency for personal preferences and interests to define the perceived difficulty of mathematics for each student. Therefore, the observable trend seen in these results aligns with the proposition that we should prioritize increasing students’ interests in mathematics and, consequently, in STEM careers [1].

3.2.1. Pretest

The results of the pretest regarding the section on attitudes toward mathematics were analyzed. In Table 2, the six statements that did show gender differences can be observed. They are divided into the three categories corresponding to the element of the affective domain contained in the test.

Table 2 shows that the means are one level lower for female students than for male students in statements 4 and 6 of the interest/enjoyment category, indicating a lower level of interest and enjoyment. For the self-concept, in statement 6, the mean of the results for female students was 2 (somewhat disagree), while for male students, it was 3 (somewhat agree), indicating that male students find it easier to solve difficult math problems. Similarly, the mean for statement 9 of the self-concept category was 3 for female students, indicating that math confuses them. Statement 3 of value/utility corresponds to a mean of 4, compared to a mean of 3 for female and male students, respectively. In contrast, statement 5 has a mean of 3 for male students’ responses, while for female students, it is 2. Therefore, female students appear to feel more pressure regarding their performance in mathematics to ensure their academic future, even though male students are more inclined to have a job involving mathematics. These results reflect a lower interest and self-concept among female students. The trend of a lower mathematical self-concept among women has been previously reported and observed in this study [1].

In the section of the test on gender stereotypes toward mathematics, the same differentiation of responses by gender was carried out. The mean responses did not reflect differences between the responses of male and female students, and it was observed that all responses fell into the neutral option.

3.2.2. Post-Test

Table 3 illustrates the differences between the answers of male and female students in the post-test regarding attitudes toward mathematics. Once more, these are split into three categories according to the corresponding element of the affective domain from the test.

In Table 3, it can be observed that the means of statement 6 in the interest/enjoyment category, statement 6 in the self-concept category, and statement 3 in the value/utility category showed the same gender differences as in the pretest. Statement 3 in the self-concept category reflects that, in contrast to the male students, female students do not consider mathematics as one of their strengths. On the other hand, in indicator 6 of the value/utility category, male students attribute greater importance to mathematics with regard to their future success. This time, in the section related to gender stereotypes, no differences were recorded between the group means.

3.2.3. Pretest vs. Post-Test

Table 4 depicts the eight statements from the pretest and post-test that changed between the two data collections. The results are separated by gender and by the type of group, experimental, and control to observe if the intervention had an impact on the students’ responses.

Table 4 illustrates the differences between the results of the pretest and post-test. Among the observed changes, interest/enjoyment improved regarding two statements for the students that did not undergo the intervention. However, for the same indicators, the mean scores of the students in the intervention group showed lower interest, and the scores for the female students remained the same. Regarding self-concept, female students in the intervention group exhibited contradictory changes. In the post-test, they were more inclined to agree that mathematics is not one of their strengths; however, at the same time, they became more inclined to agree with being good at solving difficult mathematical problems. In addition to this disparity, it should be noted that the intervention led to male students finding mathematics more confusing than before.

From the “value/utility” category, students who did not undergo the intervention considered it less necessary to perform well in mathematics to enter a university of their choice. After the intervention, the female students shifted to somewhat disagree with the idea of working in something involving mathematics. The entire population that did not complete the intervention and male students that underwent the intervention showed a higher acceptance of the importance of learning mathematics to succeed.

The said results did not exhibit the consistency to determine that the intervention impacted attitudes toward mathematics or students’ gender equity perspectives. The changes were not exclusive to the intervention group, and gender differences were not consistent across the groups. In fact, the changes between the pretest and the post-test, rather than indicating a trend, contradicted each other. The intervention included an equal number of videos featuring male and female professionals, so an equitable improvement in attitudes toward mathematics for both genders was expected after the intervention.