How do students perceive and describe their mathematical learning experience in a 10th grade Geometry I class?

Abstract

Some students do not learn mathematics even though they have both the potential and ability to learn math. This problem typically diminishes opportunities for students who are already marginalized by society. Educators, educational administrators, education policy makers, and the education community have been aware of the significant disparities in mathematics and science achievement between Asian/Pacific Islanders and Caucasians and underrepresented minority groups. If we are to understand students and to alter their motivational patterns and attitudes, continued research in the area of student motivation and attitude is essential. This case study provides a detailed examination of a 10th grade geometry class located in an urban magnet public high school with 95% minority students. The primary purpose was to learn how students perceive and describe their mathematical learning experiences. The secondary purpose was to determine the factors that influenced on students' motivation, attitudes, or perceptions of their mathematical learning experiences. Students described not only their perceptions and attitudes in light of their actual degree of success, but also the impact of their mathematics teacher's pedagogy. Using qualitative methods, this study suggests the potential of some factors that mathematics educators, educational administrators, or policy makers should consider in order to explain why and how some students do not learn mathematics, even though they have the ability to learn it. The researcher analyzes data from surveys, interviews, and classroom observation. There are seven emergent themes--three themes which arose as influencing students' attitudes: (1) family background, (2) teacher's beliefs and attitudes, and (3) the concept of success as a turning point and four themes which had been anticipated as potentially explanatory, but ultimately were not: (1) student initial attitude, (2) gender, (3) ethnicity, and (4) teacher's pedagogy alone. Furthermore, the data indicate that the classic stereotypes about how gender and/or ethnicity influence the mathematics achievement gap in the U.S. may not apply in settings where all students receive appropriate support and the educational environment is conducive to learning mathematics. Moreover, the data indicate that the focus on content knowledge in determining who is a highly qualified teacher in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 may need to be examined further. This study will be of value to educators in the design and understanding of interventions to enhance achievement in high school mathematics.