Turkish students＇ perceptions regarding their mathematics teachers＇ classroom practices

Mathematics teaching is a complex process being influenced by several factors. Mathematics teachers play crucially important role in the process. Therefore, their classroom practices can influence students＇ learning. The purpose of the present study was to examine Turkish students＇ perceptions of their mathematics teachers＇ classroom practices. A 5-point likert-type scale developed by the author was used for data collection. Exploratory factor analysis showed 3 construct, all of which together explain the 62.23% of the total variance. Cronbach＇s alpha correlation coefficient of the instrument was found 0.76. The sample of the study constituted a total number of 1,024, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students selected randomly from 12 primary schools in the different districts of Sivas, Turkey. It seems clear from the results of the study that, there are no grade level differences in the students＇ perceptions of the entire scale and its sub-factors.     

Factors affecting bioscience students’ academic achievement

The examination of academic progression has become an essential tool for measuring the effectiveness of educational systems. Research concerning the relationship between student learning and how they progress in their studies, however remains scarce. The aim of this study is two-fold: Firstly, the study aims to analyse first-year bioscience students’ perceptions of their teaching–learning environment and their approaches to learning as well as the relationship of these to academic achievement as measured by students’ progression in studies and how they succeed. Secondly, the present study explores factors students feel either enhance or impede their studying as well as the relationship of those factors with their approaches to learning and academic achievement. The data consist of responses from 188 first-year students who began their studies in the fall 2007 and 2008. The data were collected in a Finnish context with a modified and shortened version of the Experiences in Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (ETLQ). The analyses were carried out using factor analysis, one-way ANOVA and structural equation modeling. According to the results, organised studying was related to both academic progression and study success. In addition, academic progression was positively related to peer support. Furthermore, most of the students found that problems in time management impeded their studies and that pre-set schedules enhanced them. Results indicate that social support and self-regulation skills are important for academic achievement.     

Factors affecting achievement in a satellite‐delivered Japanese language program

Abstract

This article reviews previous research and reports on a study relating to six factors relevant to achievement in learning a new language: motivation, language learning styles, language learning strategies, gender, course level, and previous experience in learning a foreign language. Although motivation, learning styles, gender, and learning strategy use were all found to be influential, motivation was the single most important predictor of success. The authors suggest that awareness and understanding of the influence and interaction of student characteristics on achievement will allow instructors to provide optimal learning opportunities for all students.     

Mainstream and immigrant students’ primary school mathematics achievement differences in European countries

European Journal of Psychology of Education - The few studies on the achievement differences of mainstream and immigrant primary school students in large-scale assessments point to an achievement...     

The effects of constructivist learning environment on prospective mathematics teachers＇ opinions

To explore the effects of constructivist learning environment on prospective teachers＇ opinions about ＂＇mathematics, department of mathematics, discrete mathematics, countable and uncountable infinity＂ taught under the subject of Cantorian Set Theory in discrete mathematics class, 60 first-year students in the Division of Mathematics Education at the Department of Science and Mathematics in Buca Education Faculty at Dokuz Eylul University were divided into two homogenous groups. In order to do this segmentation, Minimum Requirements Identification Test was developed and used by the researchers. This test includes concepts like ＂＇set＂, ＂correlation＂ and ＂function＂, which are required to understand Cantorian Set Theory. While the control group was taught by traditional methods, a teaching method based on a constructivist approach was applied to the experimental group. Data were gathered by an open-ended questionnaire administered to total 40 students, 20 from the each group. Collected data were evaluated through content analysis. In the end, despite the minor differences, no statistically significant difference was found between the opinions of control and experimental groups about mathematics （χ^2calculation=2.578, SD=3, p〉0.05）, department of mathematics （χ^2calculation=3.185, SD=3, p〉0.05） and discrete mathematics （χ^2calculation=4.935, SD=3, p〉0.05） after the instruction. However, opinions about Cantorian Set Theory were significantly differentiated between experimental and control groups after the instruction （χ^2 calculation= 13.486, SD=2, p〈0.05）.     

The effects of the cooperative learning method supported by multiple intelligence theory on Turkish elementary students’ mathematics achievement

In the present experimental study, the effects of the cooperative learning method supported by multiple intelligence theory (CLMI) on elementary school fourth grade students’ academic achievement and retention towards the mathematics course were investigated. The participants of the study were 150 students who were divided into two experimental (used CLMI) and two control groups (used traditional method). “Mathematics Achievement Test,” “Teele Inventory for Multiple Intelligences” and “Personal Information Form” were used as the measurement instruments of the study. The findings of this research have indicated that CLMI has a more significant effect on academic achievement than the traditional method. Yet, regarding the retention scores, CLMI has not significant effect on retention.     

Effects of extracurricular activities and their quality on primary school-age students’ achievement in mathematics in Switzerland

In this study, we examined the development of mathematics achievement in children attending extracurricular activities intensively in comparison with the development in a control group of children attending only the obligatory hours of school instruction. In addition, we investigated the question of possible effects of intensity of attendance and quality of extracurricular activities on achievement in students attending extracurricular activities from the end of Grade 1 to the end of Grade 3. This was a longitudinal study of a sample of N = 295 students in the first years of school at 35 primary schools in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The results show that attendance in extracurricular activities had a positive effect on the development of students’ achievement. Students who attended extracurricular activities intensively in Grade 1, students who attended high-quality extracurricular activities, and especially those who did both, had greater improvement.     

Factors affecting students’ satisfaction in engineering disciplines: traditional vs. blended approaches

In this paper a two-year field study was carried out to analyse how satisfaction differs across the traditional and blended learning methods. Altogether, 21 courses for graduate and postgraduate engineering students were evaluated. Several variables and their relationship with student satisfaction in the first year, with all courses delivered in traditional mode, were compared with student satisfaction in the second year, which had the same courses delivered in blended mode. Results suggest that student satisfaction is greater in blended courses than in face-to-face courses. This can be explained because the levels of class attendance, motivation and collaboration with classmates were higher in blended learning than in classroom instruction. In addition, class attendance, access to teachers, collaboration with classmates and motivation were found to be leading predictors of student satisfaction in blended environments.     

Factors affecting student burnout and academic achievement in multiple enrollment programs in Taiwan’s technical–vocational colleges

Instead of the 44-year joint entrance examination held so far in Taiwan, multiple enrollment programs are a more recent policy of the Ministry of Education to reform the deficiencies of the abovementioned examination. However, the results of multiple enrollment programs in reducing student pressure are not clear. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to investigate the impacts of multiple enrollment programs on student burnout and academic achievement among technical–vocational college students. The result demonstrates that multiple enrollment programs have a significant effect on student burnout and academic achievement. Student burnout has a significant negative effect on academic achievement.     

Examining Samoan language development in Samoan bilingual students＇ understanding of texts in English

This paper examines language development of Samoan students in bilingual contexts in Aotearoa, New Zealand. In the absence of valid and standardized assessments tools in Samoan, one was designed to test reading comprehension and oral language development for Samoan students using common narratives as a base. For reading comprehension, the tool used a listening comprehension format to avoid possible decoding limitations and provided a gradient of difficulty with a surprising drop in both oral and reading comprehension at year 7. This drop was attributed to a change in competencies of some students entering the bilingual classroom at year 7. For example, the mixed levels of both L 1 （Samoan） oral and L1 （Samoan） reading comprehension within and across years of schooling likely reflects the varied provision in the Samoan bilingual classes and the variations across cohorts in different degrees of bilingualism. We argue that this might be due to the make up of the two schools of which one was an Intermediate school of years 7 and 8 students and, the other was a full primary school with students from years 4 to 8. The patterns suggest two general instructional needs in Samoan bilingual classrooms. One is the need to develop metacognitive components and the need for deliberate and explicit instruction to build awareness of strategies and effectiveness. The other is the ubiquitous need identified in reading comprehension instruction generally to develop vocabulary both through oral and written forms. There was a highly significant relationship between L 1 oral at L1 reading comprehension levels reflecting a general relationship found in other studies of monolingual in L2 （English） contexts.     

Different influence of contextual educational factors on boys＇ and girls＇ reading achievement

The results of lEA （The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement） PIRLS 2006 （Progress in International Reading Literacy Study） has showed that Latvia has the 6th largest gender gap in reading literacy scores and that is an indication of a serious problem of education in this country. The purpose of the paper is to find out reasons behind boys＇ low achievement to help improve their reading literacy. The proposed hypothesis is that boys and girls are differently affected by the same factors. If that is so, teachers, parents and other education practitioners should be aware of this fact to adapt reading literacy studies for both genders at maximum efficiency. In this research, PILRS 2006 data are used and different structural equation models are created to find out which factors have the most influence on boys＇ reading achievement. Structural equation modeling （SEM） is based on achievement scores and student and parent questionnaire data. The model formed using all population data was applied to boys＇ and girls＇ data separately to observe different influence of the same factors on students reading achievement scores. The comparison of standardized coefficients of structural equation model among five countries （Spain, Russian Federation, Lithuania, Latvia and Trinidad and Tobago） has been performed. Running the same model over different boys＇ and girls＇ data of different countries has showed that the strengths of relationships among the variables are similar. It was expected to observe noticeable differences between SEM coefficients of boys＇ and girls＇ data, but it turned out that big gender differences in reading achievement does not mean big differences in standardized coefficients of structural equation model and vice versa. It is found that school environment has greater impact on boys reading literacy.     

Factors predictive of mathematics achievement in kindergarten,first and third grades: An opportunity–propensity analysis

A secondary analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Sample (N = 17,401) was conducted to determine the factors that are most strongly associated with math achievement during kindergarten, first grade, and third grade. Factors from the following three categories were considered: antecedent factors (e.g., family socio-economic status), opportunity factors (e.g., frequency of being exposed to mathematical content), and propensity factors (e.g., pre-existing mathematics skills). Structural equation modeling showed that math achievement was strongly predicted by a combination of specific propensity, opportunity, and antecedent factors. However, propensity factors were the most important determinants of achievement. The amount of variance accounted for by gender and ethnicity was substantially reduced when other factors in the antecedent, opportunity, and propensity categories were controlled. The implications of the findings for intervention are discussed.     

A Regression Model With a New Tool： IDB Analyzer for Identifying Factors Predicting Mathematics Performance Using PISA 2012 Indices

There are many studies that focus on factors affecting achievement. However, there is limited research that used student characteristics indices reported by the Programme for International Student Assessment （PISA）. Therefore, this study investigated the predictive effects of student characteristics on mathematics performance of Turkish students. In PISA studies, sampling design, sampling weights, and plausible values have to be taken into consideration in order not to have biased multiple regression results. In order to conduct multiple regression analyses in PISA, software called the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement （lEA） International Database （IDB） Analyzer is required to be used because the dependent variable consists of several plausible values. This study aims to identify student characteristics that are significant in predicting mathematics performance in Turkey. Results showed that being successful in mathematics is a combination of several factors in which students＇ beliefs, motivation, and other factors must be organized to achieve mathematics. Among these beliefs and motivation, strong self-efficacy, positive self-concept, and minimum level of anxiety seem to be the key for success.     

ICT use in mathematics lessons and the mathematics achievement of secondary school students by international comparison: Which role do school level factors play?

By means of an international comparison, the research presented in the article aims to identify supporting and hindering school level factors for the use of ICT in secondary school mathematics lessons. The relationship between ICT use and the performance of Grade 9 students in mathematics is examined and further integrated into a multi-level model including school level factors. Against the background of a theoretical allocation (1) the IT equipment of schools, (2) school leadership, (3) aspects of school goals and educational strategies as well as (4) teachers’ attitudes will be analyzed by means of a multi-level regression model as well as a multi-level path model including the mathematics achievement of students as measured in the context of PISA 2012. Representative school and student data from five countries, namely Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Singapore are taken into consideration, as the integration of ICT in teaching and learning is firmly emphasized in these countries (overall 24,579 students in 1263 schools). By modeling the complex structure, school characteristics are examined with respect to their effect on the use of ICT for mathematics teaching. Moreover, the relation between different factors and students’ mathematics achievement will be synchronously assessed in the different educational systems. The results show that characteristics at school level do play a major role in the integration of ICT into teaching and learning and turn out to be relevant across the educational systems. In addition to further in-depth country-specific findings, the results point to cross-national future challenges in the field of using technologies to enhance teaching and learning.     

学习参与度对初中生数学成绩影响研究

研究借助PISA测量试卷和调查问卷,以昆明市1164名初三学生为研究对象,调查学生的学习参与度对数学成绩的影响。结果显示:学习参与度对数学成绩有显著的影响,其中,自我效能感对数学成绩的影响最大,其次是做家庭作业的时间,最后是学习兴趣;影响学生数学成绩的因素中,学生的主体参与是主要因素,家庭拥有与学生学习相关的资源是影响学生数学成绩的重要因素。     

澳大利亚理科教育暗藏危机？

一直以来,澳大利亚的理科教育都在世界上享有较好的声誉。PISA2012中,澳大利亚青少年的数学平均成绩为504分,而参与测验国家的平均数学成绩为494分,澳大利亚高出平均分10分。 但值得一提的是,PISA数据还显示,虽然有17％的澳大利亚男生和12％的澳大利亚女生在数学成绩上均表现优秀,但一旦跨过九年级这道坎,男女生的数学成绩优异率便开始下降,仅有6％的男生和5％的女生在数学成绩上表现优异,而数学成绩表现较差的男女生比例却在增加,有4％的男生和6％的女生数学成绩较差。