Investigation of Junior Secondary
Students’ Perceptions of
Mathematics Classroom Learning
Environments in China

Xinrong Yang

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2013.935a

Investigation of Junior Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classroom Learning Environments in China

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Xinrong Yang ¹ ^*

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¹ Southwest University, CHINA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of a study investigating junior secondary school students’ perceptions of mathematics classroom learning environments in China. An adapted ‘What Is Happening In this Classroom?’ questionnaire was administered to a sample of 2324 junior secondary school students from 72 classrooms in six provinces. Data were analyzed using factor analysis, descriptive statistics, two-way ANOVA, and cluster analysis. It was found that Chinese junior secondary students generally did not perceive their mathematics classroom environments very favorably. Grade 9 students were found to perceive their mathematics classroom learning environments less favorably than Grade 7 and Grade 8 students did. Moreover, boys were found to perceive their mathematics classes as more inquiry-oriented and perceive themselves as relatively more mathematically involved, while girls perceived more opportunities for cooperation and knew what was needed to compete in mathematics classes. Three types of mathematics classroom learning environments, namely highly favorable, intermediately favorable, and lowly favorable as perceived by participants were further identified in this study.

Keywords

mathematics classroom learning environments
junior secondary school student
mathematics education in China

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, 2013, Volume 9, Issue 3, 273-284

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.935a

Publication date: 14 Dec 2013

Article Views: 2186

Article Downloads: 1067

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How to cite this article

APA

Yang, X. (2013). Investigation of Junior Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classroom Learning Environments in China. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(3), 273-284. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.935a

Vancouver

Yang X. Investigation of Junior Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classroom Learning Environments in China. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(3):273-84. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.935a

AMA

Yang X. Investigation of Junior Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classroom Learning Environments in China. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(3), 273-284. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.935a

Chicago

Yang, Xinrong. "Investigation of Junior Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classroom Learning Environments in China". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2013 9 no. 3 (2013): 273-284. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.935a

Harvard

Yang, X. (2013). Investigation of Junior Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classroom Learning Environments in China. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(3), pp. 273-284. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.935a

MLA

Yang, Xinrong "Investigation of Junior Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classroom Learning Environments in China". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 9, no. 3, 2013, pp. 273-284. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.935a