Academic Performance and Beliefs about Mathematics in College Students

The objective of this research is to consider the possible relationship between academic performance and university students' beliefs about Mathematics, particularly in the subject of Integral Calculus. The methodology employed is quantitative, descriptive and correlational, based on a non-experimental design. The instrument used for the collection of information was based on a structured questionnaire of questions with Likert scale type answers, whose validity and reliability were studied, applied to 30 Mechanical Engineering students of the Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander, Cúcuta, Norte de Santander, Colombia, selected by non-probabilistic sampling. For academic performance, the grades of the first pre-test (corresponding to 23.33 % of the final grade of the subject) of Integral Calculus were used. The results strengthen the conclusion that beliefs about Mathematics, from the students' perspective, are related to their academic performance in this area.