undergraduates' attitudes and the study of mathematics at the ...

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To develop more interest in the subject it showed that the enrolment in the subject at University level could be increased if more students were motivated to study the subject at lower levels. And to attract more female students at lower levels the teaching of the subject had to be gender sensitive. This would involve for example teachers who taught the subject and the teaching materials e.g. textbooks. The teachers' role could be to avoid biases in class for example when questioning students of both sexes, in providing assistance and motivation as already noted in studies by Shifferraw, 1982; Eshiwani, 1983; Leder, 1987, 1990; Becker 1991, and Seegers & Boekarts, 1996. The textbooks used could be gender sensitive that the content in these books does not reinforce the masculine language as is the case with maths textbooks used in Swaziland schools. For example, these textbooks identified more female activities in dressmaking and cooking, unlike men who were identified in building, painting, driving cars, doing business, insuring cars, etc. (Kaino, 1996). This situation could be taken to have a cultural or traditional background where boys' and girls' activities were demarcated. In many African countries, south of the Sahara, boys did the type of work which were regarded more tougher than work done by the girls. For example, girls carried out duties which were associated with domestic work and gardening while boys did duties like looking after cattle or crops. Such social expectations from the society could also have influence on occupational choices for both girls and boys. In order to overcome such influences, the maths textbooks used at lower levels should be gender sensitive in content presentation or in other words the content should be more "girl-friendly" as Whyte, et al (1985) put it. 24
On the other hand, it could be argued that maths students at undergraduate level were the products of the biased maths curricula at lower levels. For example the higher rating of maths ability among male students than that of females could be traced from lower levels (at both secondary and high schools in swaziland) where boys rated themslves higher than girls though in some cases girls were better than girls.The analysis in this article showed that female students performed equally well as male students and the general performance of females was better than that of male students. Such attitude could be taken to be the influence from lower levels where in some stuydies it had shown that girls were unsure of their mathematiucal abilities (Soffe and Foxman, 1986). Female students' more willingness to study maths with male students at university could also be related to girls views at secondary and high schools in the country where girls considered boys to be more superior in maths subject. Though some girls at lower levels were not ready to cooperate with boys in studying maths because of the reason that they could not concentrate, many female students at university had no such problem. Such a situation could be taken as female students' experience and maturity at undergraduate level. As the findings showed, female willingness to cooperate with male students did not imply that females were weak in the subject. But still, female students at this level needed more cooperation from male students and maths lecturers. The findings in studies by McCombs and Whislers (1989) and Jones & Jones (1989) that girls needed teachers who were patient with them and teachers who could listen to them so that they could build up self-concept ability, could also be related to undergraduate female students in this study who still required such attention at this level. To remedy the studying environment where 25
Page 1 and 2: UNDERGRADUATES’ ATTITUDES AND THE
Page 3 and 4: INTRODUCTION Studies on gender disp
Page 5 and 6: Some studies have shown that girls
Page 7 and 8: The findings that girls were fright
Page 9 and 10: EMPIRICAL DATA AND ANALYSIS The enr
Page 11: For example, the period 1989-1997 s
Page 15 and 16: Students' performance in the past a
Page 17: 50-59 =D (Pass) 40-49 =E (Fail-Supp
Page 20 and 21: About 70% said they were satisfied
Page 22 and 23: with positive attitudes and concetr
Page 26 and 27: gender was involved such an attenti
Page 28 and 29: Amuge, I.M. (1987): Gender Differen
Page 30 and 31: Goddard-Spear, M. (1989): Differenc
Page 32 and 33: Masemann, V.L. (1977): The Hidden C

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