1. Measuring Beliefs about Mathematical Problem Solving Presenter: Chun-Yi Lee Advisor: Ming-Puu Chen Kloosterman, P. & Stage, F. K. (1992). Measuring beliefs about mathematical problem solving. School Science and Mathematics, 92(3), 109-114.

2. Introduction Students and the public in general have varying beliefs about mathematics as a subject and about the individual as a learner of mathematics.  Some of these beliefs make students want to learn mathematics.  Unfortunately, many students also have beliefs that actually hinder interest in, and understanding of, the subject.

3. Introduction At the present time, no instruments are available for measuring student beliefs about the discipline of mathematics or about how mathematics is learned. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a set of belief scales for measuring secondary school and college students’ beliefs about mathematics as a subject and about how mathematics is learned.

4. Beliefs and Motivation Increasing a students’ belief that mathematics is useful will often increase motivation and thus achievement.

5. Beliefs about Mathematical Problem Solving I can solve time-consuming mathematics problems. There are word problems that cannot be solved with simple, step-by-step procedures. Understanding concepts is important in mathematics. Word problems are important in mathematics. Effort can increase mathematics ability.

6. Results

8. Discussion The reliability coefficient of the importance of word problems scale was considerably lower than any of the other coefficients.  Two of the items mention word problems in relation to computational skill, three items mention word problems without regard to computational skill, and one item mentions application of computational skill but not specifically to word problems.  The meaning if the term “word problem”, is not consistent across mathematics teachers or textbooks.

9. Discussion Using the Indiana Mathematics Belief Scales  Because usefulness is an important component of motivation in mathematics and thus 6-item version of the Fennema-Sheramn Usefulness of Mathematics Scale may also be used when using the Indiana Scales.