An investigation of the students' viewpoint on factors affecting achievement in mathematics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47750/pegegog.14.02.35Keywords:
Achievement factors, attributions, mathematics, students, secondary schoolAbstract
This research investigated the secondary school students’ beliefs on the levels of impact of four main groups of factors (student characteristics, teacher characteristics, school and classroom environment characteristics, and home environment characteristics) on achievement in mathematics. Respondents in the study were 410 students, randomly chosen from eight secondary schools in Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo. A Likert scale questionnaire served for data collection. The reliability of the questionnaire as a whole and each subscale individually was checked using Cronbach's alpha, which resulted in a value greater than 0.7 in each case. Students believe that teacher characteristics are the most critical determinant of achievements in mathematics. According to students’ opinions, the order of the impact of the four main groups of factors on mathematics achievement, ranked from highest to lowest, is teacher characteristics, student characteristics, school and classroom environment characteristics, and home environment characteristics. The findings revealed no statistically significant effect of gender on students’ opinions. There were statistically significant differences in students' opinions based on the type of school attended (public or private), age (school grade), and success. However, the effect size of the difference was considerable only between the opinions of the public and private school attendees regarding the influence of teacher characteristics. Students who attend public schools see the mathematics teacher characteristics as more critical for their achievement, compared to those who attend private schools.
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