An exploration of Ghanaian students’ valuing in mathematics: How does it evolve across school levels?

Monica E. Carr; Ernest Kofi Davis; Wee Tiong Seah

doi:10.29333/ejmste/13542

Full Text (PDF)

Monica E. Carr ¹ ^* , Ernest Kofi Davis ² , Wee Tiong Seah ¹

More Detail

¹ Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA² University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, GHANA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

A total of 1,256 students selected through stratified random sampling from 18 primary and public secondary schools as a fair sample across urban and rural settings in the Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana responded to the ‘what I find important (in my mathematics learning)’ questionnaire. Section A contained 64 Likert type questions, and section B contained 10 continua dimension questions in which respondents provided weighted responses on their valuing in relation to learning mathematics, using a slider scale. In this paper, section B was visually analyzed in MS Excel, using the radar chart function to explore the evolution of values in mathematics across school levels. Findings suggested that the students’ values in mathematics evolve as they progress through school, shifting from learning content to learning environment to learning approaches.

Keywords

values
value evolution
mathematics
grade level
Ghana
visual analysis

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2023, Volume 19, Issue 10, Article No: em2332

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/13542

Publication date: 01 Oct 2023

Online publication date: 07 Aug 2023

Article Views: 859

Article Downloads: 595

Open Access References How to cite this article

References

Aktas, F. N., Yakici-Topbas, E. S., & Dede, Y. (2019). The elementary mathematics teachers’ values underlying teacher noticing: The context of polygon. In P. Clarkson, W. T. Seah, & J. Pang (Eds.), Values and valuing in mathematics education: Scanning and scoping the territory (pp. 209-222). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16892-6_15
Bishop, A. J. (1988). Mathematical enculturation a cultural perspective on mathematics education. Kluwer. https://doi.org/10.2307/3618904
Bishop, A. J. (2008). Teachers’ mathematical values for developing mathematical thinking in classrooms: Theory, research and policy. The Mathematics Educator, 11(1/2), 79-88.
Bruner, J. (1960). The process of education. Harvard University Press.
Clarkson, P., Seah, W. T., & Pang, J. (2019). Values and valuing in mathematics education: Scanning and scoping the territory. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16892-6_1
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Jossey-Bass.
Davis, E. K., Carr, M. E., & Ampadu, E. (2019). Valuing in mathematics learning amongst Ghanaian students: What does it look like across grade levels? In P. Clarkson, W. T. Seah, & J. Pang (Eds.), Values and valuing in mathematics education: Scanning and scoping the territory (pp. 89-102). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16892-6_6
Dede, Y. (2006). Mathematics educational values of college students’ towards function concept. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2(1), 82-102. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/75440
Dede, Y. (2015). Comparing primary and secondary mathematics teachers’ preferences regarding values about mathematics teaching in Turkey and Germany. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 9(3), 603-626. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-013-9483-z
Dede, Y. (2019). Why mathematics is valuable for Turkish, Turkish immigrant and German students? A cross-cultural study. In P. Clarkson, W. T. Seah, & J. Pang (Eds.), Values and valuing in mathematics education: Scanning and scoping the territory (pp. 143-156). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16892-6_10
Groth R. E. (2013). Teaching mathematics in grades 6-12. SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452244105
Hill, J., Hunter, J., & Hunter, R. (2019). What do Pāsifika students in New Zealand value most for their mathematics learning? In P. Clarkson, W. T. Seah, & J. Pang (Eds.), Values and valuing in mathematics education: Scanning and scoping the territory (pp. 103-114). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16892-6_7
Kaczynski, D., Wood, L., & Harding, A. (2008). Using radar charts with qualitative evaluation techniques to assess change in blended learning. Active Learning in Higher Education, 9(1), 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787407086743
Kalogeropoulos, P., & Clarkson, P. (2019). The role of value alignment in levels of engagement of mathematics learning. In P. Clarkson, W. T. Seah, & J. Pang (Eds.), Values and valuing in mathematics education: Scanning and scoping the territory (pp. 115-127). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16892-6_8
Nakawa, N. (2019). Mathematical values through personal and social values: Number activities in a Japanese kindergarten. In P. Clarkson, W. T. Seah, & J. Pang (Eds.), Values and valuing in mathematics education: Scanning and scoping the territory (pp. 157-183). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16892-6_11
National Council for Curriculum and Assessment of Ministry of Education. (2019). Mathematics common core program curriculum (basic 1-3). https://mingycomputersgh.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/b1-mathematics.pdf
Penk, C., & Schipolowski, S. (2015). Is it all about value? Bringing back the expectancy component to the assessment of test-taking motivation. Learning and Individual Differences, 42, 27-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.08.002
Republic of Ghana Ministry of Education. (2020). Mathematics common core program curriculum (basic 7-10). https://curriculum.nacca.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/MATHEMATICS-CCP-CURRICULUM-B7-B10-DRAFT-ZERO.pdf
Seah, W. T. (2019). Values in mathematics education: Its conative nature, and how it can be developed. Research in Mathematics Education, 22(2), 99-121. https://doi.org/10.7468/jksmed.2019.22.2.99
Seah, W. T., & Andersson, A. (2015). Teacher alignment of values in mathematics classrooms. In K. Krainer & N. Vondrova (Eds.), Proceedings of CERME 9 - Ninth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (pp. 3122-3128). Charles University and ERME.
Seah, W. T., Baba, T., & Zhang, Q. (2017a). The WIFI study students valuing in Hong Kong and Japan. In J. W. Son, T. Watanabe, & J. Lo (Eds), What matters? Research trends in international comparative studies in mathematics education, research in mathematics education (pp. 333-354). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51187-0_18
Seah, W. T., Davis, E. K., & Carr, M. E. (2017b). School mathematics education through the eyes of students in Ghana: Extrinsic and intrinsic valuing. In Proceedings of the 10^th Congress of European Research in Mathematics Education.
Suherman, S., & Vidakovich, T. (2022). Adaptation and validation of students’ attitudes toward mathematics to Indonesia. Pedagogika [Pedagogy], 147(3), 227-252. https://doi.org/10.15823/p.2022.147.11
Third Wave Lab. (2023). The third wave lab: An international consortium researching values and valuing in mathematics education. https://thirdwavelab.education.unimelb.edu.au/
TIMSS. (2011). International results in mathematics. https://timssandpirls.bc.edu/timss2011/downloads/T11_IR_Mathematics_FullBook.pdf
Zhang, Q. P. (2019). Values in mathematics learning: Perspectives of Chinese Mainland primary and secondary students. In P. Clarkson, W. T. Seah, & J. S. Pang (Eds.), Values and valuing in mathematics education (pp. 185-196). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16892-6_13
Zhang, Q., Barkatsas, A., Law, H., Leu, Y., Seah, W., & Wong, N. (2016). What primary students in The Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan value in mathematics learning: A comparative analysis. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 14(5), 907-924. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9615-0

How to cite this article

APA

Carr, M. E., Davis, E. K., & Seah, W. T. (2023). An exploration of Ghanaian students’ valuing in mathematics: How does it evolve across school levels?. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 19(10), em2332. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/13542

Vancouver

Carr ME, Davis EK, Seah WT. An exploration of Ghanaian students’ valuing in mathematics: How does it evolve across school levels?. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2023;19(10):em2332. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/13542

AMA

Carr ME, Davis EK, Seah WT. An exploration of Ghanaian students’ valuing in mathematics: How does it evolve across school levels?. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2023;19(10), em2332. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/13542

Chicago

Carr, Monica E., Ernest Kofi Davis, and Wee Tiong Seah. "An exploration of Ghanaian students’ valuing in mathematics: How does it evolve across school levels?". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2023 19 no. 10 (2023): em2332. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/13542

Harvard

Carr, M. E., Davis, E. K., and Seah, W. T. (2023). An exploration of Ghanaian students’ valuing in mathematics: How does it evolve across school levels?. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 19(10), em2332. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/13542

MLA

Carr, Monica E. et al. "An exploration of Ghanaian students’ valuing in mathematics: How does it evolve across school levels?". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 19, no. 10, 2023, em2332. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/13542