Determinant between Weak and Strong Performance in Maths - Assignment Example

Determinant between Weak and Strong Performance in Maths Abstract This paper articulates on the general participation of students in Mathematics. Many students have weak participation in mathematics. Even average and above average students shows a weak participation in mathematics which do not coincide with their participation in other subjects. The research is expected to determine the factors that differentiate between strong participants and weak participants in mathematics. Several studies were analyzed to identify these factors. These factors include math teacher competency, motivation, arithmetic-ability, subjective experiences and self directed learning. Aim The research will establish the factors that differentiate between strong and weak participants in math. Introduction According to PISA, mathematical literacy is the individual capacity to formulate, employ and interpret mathematics in a variety of context (OECD, 2014). This includes the reasoning of mathematical concept and facts to explain and predict phenomena. This literacy also helps an individual to recognize the role of mathematics. It is demonstrated through the student ability to solve and interpret mathematical problems. Proficiency in mathematics is seen as an essential precursor to success in modern society. This perspective of mathematic has gained consideration due to the rapid advancement in information. For this reason, students need to be well equipped with mathematical knowledge. PISA results indicate that there is a wide achievement gap between East and West students. The students in the East like Shanghai and Hong Kong, and Singapore had a higher score than students from America and Britain for test undertaken over a year. Education policy makers have begun to analyze the factors that differentiate between the weak and strong participants in math. Poor achievement in education has become an issue of major concern among the academic institutions. Therefore, revisiting the factors determining the level of student participation is an effort worthwhile to consider. Approach Studies shows there are a number of factors including teacher selection and quality, teaching methods, parenting, extensive out-of-school tuition, and families’ value upon mathematics, among many others. Self-Directed Learning Self-directed learning is a significant factor in a student’s math participation. Mathematics education requires a deep understanding of mathematical concepts, as well as the ability to make connections between them. This is because there is no planned, well-structured system that allows the student to think mathematically. This can be achieved if; the student plays their assigned role in the mathematic learning process. For this reason, self-directed learning has an important place in successful math learning. Strong participants take the initiative in their learning by diagnosing their need, formulating goals, and identifying the resources they require for learning. The teacher has a responsibility to engage the students by helping them to organize and assist them to take the initiative in their self-directed explorations. Arithmetic Ability Arithmetic ability includes several skills such as manipulating mathematical knowledge and concepts in such a way their meaning and implications are transformed. This will help a student to interpret, analyze, and hypothesize these facts and ideas of mathematics. Some students have high arithmetic ability in solving complex problems, arriving at logical conclusion, and discovering new meanings. Mathematical reasoning has been determined by several studies and shows to be a critical factor in the student’s math participation. A study indicates that arithmetic ability has the highest correlation with mathematic participation. Similarly, student achievement scores were found to be most strongly projected by level of ability. Some studies have also examined the connection between gender issues and the arithmetic ability on math participation. A study conducted to investigate data that had been gathered over ten years with an aim of determining whether personality traits were related to gender influences in the long term participation in mathematics. The result showed that mathematical reasoning was the most significant predictor of the long-term achievement in women. Motivation or Concentration Mathematics requires highly motivated students who are highly motivated because it requires reasoning, interpretation, and solving mathematical problems, issues, and concepts. In today’s education, mathematic learning requires disciplined study, motivation, and concentration. To face these challenges, learners must be focused and motivated in order to improve in their participation. A study to examine the relationship between classroom motivation and academic participation in elementary school studies, found that high levels of motivation was related to greater participation in math. However, the role of the teacher in motivation should not be underestimated. The teacher is responsible for ensuring a conducing learning environment is created, where the students can engage in the mathematical thinking activities. This will help the students to view mathematics as something that will require verification and reflection. As a result, the students will become motivated. Subjective experiences A student perception of the learning environment can be can be associated with the teacher’s personality, as well as approach to the subject content. Students tend to dislike a subject if they dislike the teacher. As a result, the student may lose interest to learn the subject. Low participation is associated with perceived difficulties, boredom, and lack of subject relevance (Brown, Brown, & Bibby, 2008). The choice they make has a significant relationship with their attitude towards math. Perception towards mathematic determines the student's level of participation. Teacher competency in math education Several studies indicate that what the teacher know and believe about mathematics is directly linked to their instructional choices, as well as procedures. Also, the teacher’s philosophy of mathematics has a significant influence on the structure of mathematics class. Teachers need to have skills and knowledge so that they can apply their philosophy of teaching to ensure student participation (Feniger and Adam, 2014). The teacher factor moderates the effect of other risk factors such as gender of students, socio-cultural and socio-economical background, and level of parent education attainment. Professional development of teachers on content-focused instruction has a tremendous effect on student participation. Various studies have shown that students of the teacher who participated in development programs showed high participation then student who do not. For this reason, mathematics participation can be improved by improving the teacher knowledge and commitment. Data and Analysis The selection of variables was driven by the need to find the common determinant between weak and strong performance in mathematics. Therefore, these variables are significant in international comparisons about determinant of a student performance, particularly when using PISA datasets (Fuchs & Woessmann, 2007). We use four indicators to give four important factors namely: include math teacher competency, motivation, arithmetic-ability, subjective experiences and self directed learning. The results from PISA 2006 analysis showed that these factors are dependent on the student performance. Math teacher competency (7.8), motivation (8.47), arithmetic-ability (12.56), subjective experiences (7.65) and self directed learning (10.2). Table 1. Analysis of the attribution on some mathematics-related factors Variables math teacher competency motivation arithmetic-ability subjective experiences self directed learning Relationship Std error 7.28 1.96 8.47 2.02 12.56 4.99 7.65 5.87 10.20 3.70   p < .05 ; Source: authors’ elaboration on PISA2012 data. (OECD, 2014). Discussion Identifying factors that determine the differences between the strong and weak participants will help the instructor determine the most efficient instruction. Existing studies suggested that can affect the student participation in math. Several studies were analyzed to identify the factors that differentiate participation of the student in math courses. The result showed that gender was not a major factor affecting the student’s participation in math. However, parents’ education level was a significant factor because parent with higher levels of education code be a mentor for their children to have strong participation. Similar results were identified in the Campbell, Hombo, & Mazzeo, (2000). Also parent with higher income could provider more instructional resources that may eventually help to improve student’s participation in math. In other words, parent’s education level and income are an important factor for student’s math participation. Students from different backgrounds may have different attitudes towards learning. Thus, participation of students in the math courses depends on the instruction design that can successfully transmit crucial math skills to student from different backgrounds. The mathematics curriculum contains principles to enable students to develop logical and mathematical skills needed to participate in math courses. In other words, the curriculum should be able to support student learning and promote their participation in mathematics. The instruction methods are necessary for the participation of students. The teacher competency is another important factor for math participation. Similar studies reported that teachers should have good understanding of the subject domain to improve the math participation of students. Conclusion The study has identified four factors that contribute to the mathematics participation including teacher competency in math, motivation, arithmetic ability, subjective experiences, and self-directed learning. For this reason, learners must be focused and motivated in order to improve in their participation. The teacher also has a responsibility to engage the students by helping them to organize and assist them to take the initiative in their self-directed explorations. Improving the teacher knowledge and commitment plays a significant role in promoting the mathematic participation. Recommendation Based on these findings there is need to develop strategy to maximize performance that will ensure that learners are provided with information that will positively encourage them to make internal or positive attributions. Since the study was not specific, similar studies should be carried out to compare determinant of performances in various sectors of education. References Brown, M., Brown, P., & Bibby, T. (2008). I would rather die: Reasons given by 16-year-olds for not continuing their study of mathematics. Research in Mathematics Education, 10(1), 3-18. Campbell, J. R., Hombo, C. M., & Mazzeo, J. (2000). NAEP 1999 trends in academic progress:Three decades of student performance. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Success. Feniger, Yariv and Adam Lefstein. 2014. How not to reason with PISA data: an ironic investigation. Journal of Education Policy 29(6): 845-55. OECD. (2014). PISA 2012 Results in Focus: What 15-year-olds know and what they can do with what they know. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.html. February 12, 2015. Woessman, L. (2007). Fundamental Determinants of School Efficiency and Equity: German States as a Microcosm for OECD countries, CESifo Working Paper 1981. Read More