The Supportive Classroom Environment Habits Used by Mathematics Teachers for Essential Stage in Jordan

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate the supportive classroom environment habits used by mathematics teachers for essential stage in Jordan. The research questions for the present study are: 1) What are the supportive classroom environment habits used by mathematics teachers for Essential Stage in Jordan? 2) Is there a significant difference at level (0.05≥α) in the means of supportive classroom environment habits (SCEH) teacher used with respect to teacher education? 3) Is there a significant difference at level (0.05≥α) in the means of supportive classroom environment (SCEH) teacher used with respect to teacher experience? To answer the questions of the study, (7) schools were selected from Amman, and (10) female teachers participated in the study, who were observed in the natural setting during math classes. The researcher built a study instrument using theoretical background related to mathematical classroom environment (SCEH). The psychometric properties for (SCEH) were verified. Each teacher has been observed (5) times, and each observation was coded, analyzed and reported using (SCEH). The process of collecting data continued about 2 months during the 1st semester of the academic year (2018-2019). The results revealed that the percentage of positive habits of the classroom environment did not exceed 50%, but less in all domains of the study except for the domain “Safe environment to participate and the domain “support student motivation and self- esteem’ were the last with the percentage 39.6. This research recommends that school mathematics teachers adopt more supportive classroom environment habits to improve student’s success; such as supporting problem solving, high expectation for all the students and support students’ motivation and self-esteem.