MEZIESBLOG

The study problem

’Mathematics Idealism,’ according to Ediger [2], could contribute to mathematics teachers and help in selecting “…objectives, learning opportunities, and evaluation procedures for pupils” [2] (p. 3). Since the foundations of study problems could be extracted from the scholastic interests of the researchers, preceding research studies, and literature, the problem of this study has been amplified due to several drives and motives. Such motives are the casual observations of the researchers, inferences from educational theories, previous studies’ recommendations, relevant literature, practical situations, and the field experiences of the researchers or experienced educators.

Experienced educators should be attentive to why and how school teachers reflect and perform in their classroom situations. This study stems from the researchers’ curiosity about implementing idealistic philosophical standards from the perspectives of mathematics teachers in schools in a city in the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, the insufficient research studies vis-à-vis this topic of concern, in addition to the teachers’ unacquaintedness with and elusiveness of an educational philosophy upon which they base their teaching, had been another motive for the researchers.

Driven by determination, the researchers also concluded that their college students possess limited knowledge regarding the connection between Idealism and mathematics education. Upon graduation, these students lack knowledge about the importance of mathematical connections to Idealism in teaching and learning due to an inadequate understanding of such connections. Therefore, this unfamiliarity with the connection between the philosophical view of idealism and mathematics teaching and learning is, in the researchers’ estimation, an issue worth studying because it is considered an accruing phenomenon among mathematics teachers in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere.

In the United Arab Emirates, upon reviewing previous literature and research studies, the researchers conducted this study to identify and justify the educational implications of Idealism throughout schools in Al Ain city of the United Arab Emirates from the perspectives of mathematics teachers. Accordingly, this study is an effort to react to the consequent study questions. The research questions for this study were: (1) To what extent do mathematics teachers believe that the educational philosophical implications of Idealism as an educational theory throughout schools in the United Arab Emirates are implemented? (2) Are there any significant statistical differences between mathematics teachers’ responses due to their gender, type of school, years of experience, and school cycle on all questionnaire items? (3) Is there any significant correlation between teachers’ opinions about the curriculum, educational values, school functions, roles of teachers, and teaching methods to each other? (4) Is there any significant impact of gender, school type, years of experience, cycle of teaching, perceptions of curriculum, value of education, school function, and role of teachers on teaching methods?

In order to implement the idealistic educational approach in the Emirati educational system, the findings of this study may generate awareness of potential teaching methods in classrooms, and this study may be a significant piece of literature in reporting an authentic argument vis-à-vis this particular topic of concern. Plato’s Academy entrance is believed to have been written: “Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here” [23, 24]. The value of this study may be established as an occasion to construct bonds between idealist educational principles and mathematics teachers in the United Arab Emirates.