Influence of cognitive and motivational variables in academic mathematics performance in chilean students

Abstract

Apart from cognitive processes and the levels of abstraction in mathematics, predisposition or motivation for mathematical tasks interacts with academic mathematics performance in a significant manner. The objective of this study is to measure the effect of incorporating a variable of predisposition to mathematical tasks to a complex model, which also considers the student's formal and inductive logical reasoning skills regarding academic mathematics performance. Our aim is to assess to what extent success in mathematics provides feedback to students and how it influences overall academic achievement. In order to do so, different instruments were used, such as TOLT (Test of Logical Thinking), TILS (Test of Higher Logical Thinking) and a Likert-type scale to measure the predisposition for mathematical tasks. The interaction between variables was modeled using structural equations. The results show the important role that predisposition for mathematical tasks plays in academic performance. They also show how this predisposition interacts and modulates the effect of cognitive factors on overall academic performance, and how it also mitigates the strength of their univariate relationships. The educational role of these findings is discussed, as well as possible ways of improving a negative predisposition towards mathematical tasks in school environments.