Research on students' self-study influence on learning mathematics

Straipsnyje aptariama pirmo kurso studentų nuomonė apie savarankiško darbo poreikį ir galimybes vidurinėje mokykloje ir Kauno technikos kolegijoje (KTK). Bandoma nustatyti, ar yra priklausomybė tarp stojamojo balo į KTK, kurį sudaro 40 proc. matematikos brandos egzamino įvertinimo ir pasiruošimo mokytis savarankiškai. Atliekama apklausos rezultatų analizė, kuria siekiama nustatyti, kaip studentai vertina savarankiško darbo įtaką matematikos mokymuisi ir rezultatams. Pateikiama matematikos mokymosi rezultatų lyginamoji analizė.This article analyses the opinion of the first-year students about the demand of individual work and possibilities at secondary school and Kaunas Technical College. The aim of the carried research is to find the relation between the applicant’s entrance to Kaunas Technical College score, which is combined of 40 % of mathematics examination for the school-leaving certificate assessment, and readiness to learn individually. The analysis of the poll results is used in order to examine how the students themselves assess the influence of individual work in their learning process of mathematics and to their results. The comparative analysis of learning results in mathematics is described with the aim to find out the importance of individual work. Some conclusions could be made on the basis of this research. Usually the school graduates are skeptical about individual work influence to their learning results, but their opinion changes after the first semester at Kaunas Technical College, even though they do not start thinking that individual work is the most essential factor that has influence on their learning results. The poll results show that students have proper conditions and possibilities for individual work at Kaunas Technical College, including good conditions to access computers, a sufficient amount of computer programs and a sufficient amount of literature to master various educational programs. Nevertheless, the students do not assess sufficiently the influence of individual work to their learning results in mathematics. They relate their achievements more to the competence of a lecturer and a clear presentation of the course material. On the other hand, the students’ individual work hasn’t sufficient influence on learning results in mathematics, and lecturers should try to emphasize the impact and importance of individual work to learning results in mathematics. The carried research is important, because while analyzing students’ attitude to the taught course and learning, the search for more effective organization of students’ individual work and better learning results is launched