In education, attitude is one of the important elements which determine students’ success. Attitudes affect the students’ interaction with their friends, families, school and lessons. Therefore, students’ attitude towards the course will add to their success. Students’ attitudes towards mathematics are also very much correlated to their attitude towards problem solving in general (Cetingöz and Özkal, 2009; Effandi & Normah ,2009; Kandemir & Gűr, 2009; Mapolelo ,1998).
Students’ negative attitudes need to be overcome, so that later in life, students will not suffer from poor problem-solving skills. It is important to master problem solving skills as these skills are essential for dealing competently with our everyday life. Students must have a positive attitude towards problem solving if they are to succeed. Solving problems requires patience, persistence, perseverance and willingness to accept risks. Students with a positive attitude towards mathematics will generally excel at it. It is also observed that students with high level of perseverance will not stop trying until they manage to get the answer and they will continue to work on a problem until they succeed in solving (Faridah, 2004; O’Connell ,2000; Papanastasiou …show more content…
Indeed, it is quite different. The calculation of a pupil/teacher ratio typically includes teachers who spend all or part of their day as administrators, librarians, special education support staff, itinerant teachers, or other roles outside the classroom. Thus, pupil/teacher ratio is a global measure of the human resources brought to bear, directly and indirectly, on children 's learning. Class size refers to the actual number of pupils taught by a teacher at a particular time. Thus, the pupil/teacher ratio is always lower than the average class size, and the discrepancy between the two can vary, depending on teachers ' roles and a number of time teachers spend in the classroom during the school day. Different researchers have reported that large class sizes have a negative effect on an academic task. Among other reason class size ranks the most important factors that have strong and direct influence on the academic performance of schools (Adeyela, 2000; Adeyemi, 2012; McKeachie,