Mathematical Thinking Skills and Their Relationship with Mathematical Beliefs of an Najah National UniversityStudents From Two Specializations: Mathematics And Teaching Methods Of Mathematics

This study aimed to determine the level of mathematical thinking skills and their relationship with mathematical beliefs of students in An-Najah national university from two specialties mathematics and teaching methods of mathematics. The study sample consisted of 220 students from the two specialties, mathematics and methods of teaching mathematics, at An-Najah National University, The participants in the sample were selected randomly, and the questionnaires were distributed in the second semester of the academic year 2015/2016. Two data collecting instruments were used in the study: mathematical thinking questions and a scale for measuring beliefs about mathematics, and validity and reliability tests were performed for each of the instruments. Independent T-tests،Anova and post-hoc Scheffé tests were used to answer the research questions. Pearson correlations were usedto find the relationships between mathematical thinking skills and mathematical beliefs. The study showed the following results: 1- There were statistically significant differences at (α ≤0.05) for all sub-scales of mathematical thinking skills and sub-scales of students' beliefs about mathematics between the students from the two specialties. 2- There were no statistically significant differences at (α ≤0.05) in the mathematical thinking skills and in the degree of students' beliefs attributed to gender 3- There were no statistically significant differences at (α ≤0.05) in students' beliefs attributed to the specialty، while there were statistically significant differences at (α ≤0.05) in mathematical thinking in favor of mathematics specialty students. 4- There were statistically significant differences at (α ≤0.05) between the sub-scales of mathematical thinking skills attributed to mathematics achievement in favor of students whose achievement (over 90%). At the same time, there were no statistically significant differences at (α ≤0.05) in the sub-scales of students' beliefs. 5- The relationships between the sub-scales of mathematical thinking and the sub-scales of attitudes towards mathematics wee statistically significant at (α ≤0.05). The study recommended focusing on the development of mathematical thinking skills in the mathematics curriculum. It also recommends instilling the mathematical concepts more accurately. In addition, teachers should develop the appropriate beliefs of mathematics students in order to have appropriate attitudes towards learning mathematics.