5th and 8th grade pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions of the relationships between teaching methods, classroom ethos, and positive affective attitudes towards learning mathematics in Japan

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4.2: Comparison of pupils and teachers’ perceptions of the extent to which the
four aspects of attitudes towards learning are promoted by different teaching
methods

The results of the data analysis in the previous section suggested that both teachers and
pupils thought that the teaching methods did not promote all of the four aspects equally.
Teachers of both age groups thought that Individual work and Individual help promoted
pupils’ sense of security and sense of progress rather than enjoyment and motivation.
On the other hand, they thought that Practical work was less beneficial for pupils’ sense
of security and sense of progress compared to its positive effects on enjoyment and
motivation. Pupils of both age groups thought that Individual help and Reading a
textbook were not enjoyable despite their benefits in promoting their sense of progress.
However, the findings reported in the previous section did not compare these differences
statistically, because the section aimed to compare the participants’ perceptions of
pupils’ attitudes toward learning mathematics between teaching methods. In this section
each teaching method is compared statistically to see the extent to which teachers and
pupils agree on its effects.

Practical work

The results of repeated measure ANOVAs indicated that the members of each group
perceived that Practical work promoted the four aspects differently (see Figure 4.2.1 and
Table 4.2.1). Teachers of both age groups perceived that Practical work promoted
pupils’ enjoyment and motivation more than their sense of security and sense of
progress, although the differences were small. Their pupils perceived that this teaching
method promoted sense of progress equally or more than other aspects. Teachers and
pupils of both age groups perceived that the frequency of deployment of Practical work
was low. In all cases teachers were more optimistic about the positive effects than
pupils. In addition, teachers and pupils of 5^th graders were more positive than 8^th
graders.

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