Teacher's Perception of Math Applications in the New Era: A Case Study

Mathematics is a science known for symbols and concepts. Many students have negative attitudes toward learning mathematics and are not motivated to study it or select it as a future career. They may find it boring and difficult to apply to the world in which they live. Mathematics is a science of numbers, quantities, and shapes and the relationships among them; and learning mathematics builds a strong foundation for other sciences. Students need to make useful connections between math and other sciences. This case study examines math teachers? perceptions of mathematic applications to the field of computers. A total of 22 math teachers (grades 1-12) from Makkah, Saudi Arabia participated in this study. The participants were all attending a professional development session initiated by the District Supervision Office in Makkah. Data was collected using a survey that participants completed following a 4-hour lecture, entitled Math and the challenges of the era. Participants? responses to the survey revealed that they try to encourage students to learn math, they believe that math is important for student success in other subjects, and they relate math problems with real-world problems in their instruction.