The Effects of the Horticulture-Mathematics Integration Program on Mathematical Attitude and Money Calculating Ability of Students with Intellectual Disabilities

Background and objective: The concept of ‘money’ in the numbers and operations domain is a fundamentally necessary domain of economic life. This study was conducted to examine the effects of a horticulture-mathematics integration program on mathematical attitude and money calculating ability of high school students with intellectual disabilities. Methods: We analyzed the changes in the mathematical attitude and money calculating ability of students with mild intellectual disabilities in S special school in the city of D, Republic of Korea, with 12 students in the control group and 12 students in the experimental group, from August 27 to October 29, 2019. Results: The results of the comparison showed no statistically significant changes in the three items of mathematical attitude for the control group, while the experimental group, which took part in the horticulture-mathematics integration program, showed statistically significant differences across all three items, such as self-concept about the subject (p = .003), attitude toward the subject (p = .004), and study habit related to the subject (p = .012). The horticulture-mathematics integration program, which was developed by integrating horticultural activities and the mathematics curriculum, used plants and horticultural activities to provide students with positive experiences in mathematics. These included the sense of closeness, curiosity, interest, attention, and enjoyment, leading to positive changes in mathematical attitude. In terms of money calculating ability, both the control group and experimental group showed statistical differences across the three items, but the experimental group showed greater degrees of increase, 15.0 or more, in the scores compared to the control group. Conclusion: These results suggest that utilizing horticultural materials as a part of purchase learning programs with elements of money calculation chapters in the mathematics curriculum could lead to the improvement of students’ ability in money calculation. These positive changes are thought to be related to the high degrees of interest in horticulture among students, which led to active participation in the program and enabled the simple and repeated purchase activities in the program to generate positive changes in the money calculation ability of the students.