Ghanaian public and private junior high school mathematics classroom learning environment: A look at students’ attitudes

Richard Kyere Asomah,Hager Dennis,Joseph Kofi Aseidu,Mohammed Nurudeen Alhassan

doi:10.4314/ajesms.v15i1.8

Abstract

The public outcry about students’ poor performance in mathematics can be said to have gained currency in recent times, in the dailies in Ghana. The outcry has been fueled by the fact that Ghanaian eight graders have always been among the least performing in international assessments such as TIMSS. Since available literature is replete with the fact that students’ attitudes of their mathematics classroom environment influence their attitudes to their classroom activities and hence their mathematics achievement, this study was designed to determine the attitudes of junior high school pupils towards their mathematics classroom learning environment. A total of 350 eighth and ninth graders (i.e., forms two and three junior high school students) from four public and two private randomly selected schools in a metropolitan community in southern Ghana participated in the study. The study adapted the mathematics attitude questionnaire (MAQ) instruments, a questionnaire designed to measure students’ attitudes of their classroom environment on four different subscales. The results revealed that, though in general, the attitudes of students were positive, that of the private school students were relatively more positive than their public-school counterparts in each of the subscales. Implications of this are discussed and recommendations for classroom teachers and future research are also presented.

Highlights

Mathematics has played a strategic role in the development of humanity and it has always assumed a significant and unique role in many societies throughout history
This was the case in this study since as many as 350 junior high school pupils were sampled and studied at the same time as well as the economy of time to both the researcher and the schools involved in this study since each of the private and public schools involved in this study was visited only once during the data collection stage
In Eshun (2000) study; for example, “Richards posted that the perception of most people that, among all school subjects, mathematics is the most feared subject. He goes further to state that if asked to sum up their view of mathematics at school, many people would describe it in terms of one, if not all, of the three D’s – dull, difficult and dislike” cannot be said to have gained currency at the basic level of education especially, at the junior high school since the disposition by the junior high school pupils vis-a –vis their responses on the 12 items on the mathematics attitude questionnaire (MAQ), perceive mathematics as completely opposite to the three D’s – dull, difficult and dislike espoused, irrespective of their school-type

Summary

Introduction

Mathematics has played a strategic role in the development of humanity and it has always assumed a significant and unique role in many societies throughout history. The awareness and general understanding of the role mathematics has in our daily lives is as essential for women as it is for men if they are to make informed, responsible decisions. There is the need to actively encourage students to develop positive attitudes toward the learning of mathematics. The consequent of which will faciltate the necessary confidence in the students ability to solve mathematical problems and in the continuum enable them to benefit from the vast opportunities in mathematics. If students show negative attitudes toward mathematics, it may result in the students being disadvantaged in.

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Findings

Discussion

Conclusion