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were more likely to perceive pupils’ affective attitudes divided into enjoyment and
motivation as one group and sense of security and sense of progress as another. This
tendency was greater for the 8th grade teachers. Frequencies of the deployment of the
teaching methods were not significantly correlated with perceptions of pupils’ affective
attitudes in most cases.
Factor analysis
To further explore the relationships between teaching methods and perceived effects on
pupils a factor analysis was undertaken. The findings from this, taking account of the
different samples were inconclusive, although they tended to indicate that relationships
within teaching methods were key.
4.6: Summary of findings of Chapter 4
Overall, teaching methods seem to be perceived in relation to membership of two main
categories. One category consists of Practical work, Using a computer, Whole-class
discussion and Group discussion, those which often involve groups of pupils working
together. The other group consists of Teacher explanation, Reading a textbook,
Individual work and Individual help, where pupils’ cognitive activities are individual.
Some of the teaching methods in these different categories are perceived by teachers as
opposing each other in terms of promoting pupils’ affective attitudes towards
mathematics learning. These distinctions appear more strongly at 8th grade than 5th
grade. Teachers and pupils at 5th grade seem to take a more integrated view of the way
affective attitudes towards mathematics, especially enjoyment and motivation, are
promoted by different teaching methods.
Teachers of both age groups reported that Teacher explanation, Individual work,
Individual help and Reading a textbook were frequently deployed in mathematics
classes. The most frequently deployed methods were well matched with pupils’
preference at 8th grade, but less so at 5th grade. 5th graders were more likely to favour
Practical work. They tended to view individualised teaching methods as having less
positive affects on their attitudes. 5th graders overall perceived that Individual help was
deployed in their classes much less than their teachers perceived.
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