Exploring Students’ Attitude in Mathematics: Implication for Promoting Mental Health and Personal Peace in Learning

The study focused on students' attitudes towards mathematics and its impact on their emotional wellbeing, self-esteem and peace of mind in the learning environment. In particular, it set out to describe students’ perceptions of their attitudes in mathematics, the factors influencing their interest in the subject and how these attitudes influence students' emotional well-being in the learning process. This study adopted a qualitative approach, where five (5) purposely selected second-year college students taking mathematics courses in Cotabato State University were interviewed. Interviews were conducted to explore students' experiences in learning mathematics. Data were interpreted through the process of thematic analysis to identify common patterns, themes and meanings. The results revealed students have positive and negative attitudes toward mathematics. These negative attitudes included anxiety, stress, fear, and low self-confidence, particularly when engaged in unfamiliar and difficult mathematical tasks. In contrast, positive attitudes emerged when students were able to successfully solve problems, leading to positive feelings of satisfaction, motivation and enjoyment. Students' interest in mathematics was impacted by multiple factors such as clarity of teaching, teaching strategies, task difficulty, prior learning experiences, peer influence and classroom engagement. In addition, the findings indicated that students’ attitudes have a profound impact on their emotional well-being, in which negative experiences result in emotional distress and a lack of confidence, and positive experiences foster resilience, confidence and emotional well-being. The study concludes that students’ attitudes towards mathematics have a profound impact on their learning and extend to their emotional well-being and personal peace. These results highlight the importance of supportive, interactive and student-friendly teaching approaches that cater for both cognitive and emotional needs of mathematics learning.