The Impact of Mathematics Teachers' Effectiveness on Students' Learning in the Two Realms of: Knowledge and Understanding

Abstract

Effective teachers focus on the students' appropriate academic achievement and have positive impact on their performance. The need to evaluate the effectiveness of teachers on students' performance and learning areas seems necessary. This study was conducted with the aim to investigate the effectiveness of mathematics teachers on the learning of high school second-grade female students. Considering this purpose, survey research method was used. The population of this study included female mathematics teachers of girl high schools as well as female high school students of the zone 1 of Qom city during the school year 2013-2014. In the present study, quasi-cluster sampling method was used and the second grade was selected from among all the grades of the high schools in zone 1 of Qom city, and the study was conducted on 15 female mathematics teachers in this grade and 359 female students of these teachers. Using a questionnaire and a mathematics test, Mann-Whitney statistical results showed that mathematics scores of students who had effective teachers, were lower in the realm of knowledge compared to the students who did not have effective teachers, and mathematics scores of students who had effective teachers, in the realm of understanding were higher, compared to the students who did not have effective teachers.