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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could positively promote pupils’ affective attitudes, especially an interest in mathematics
learning. However, they doubted the effectiveness of these methods in developing
pupils’ mathematical thinking and competence. Some teachers did not have confidence
in their own teaching skills in relation to these methods. They also reported a lack of
school resources. They doubted whether all children would prefer these teaching
methods, and felt difficulties in adopting these new teaching methods due to time
constraints, especially at 8^th grade. Some teachers adopted several teaching methods in
parallel in mathematics classes. For example, many 5^th grade teachers used textbooks
to confirm understanding obtained through exploratory learning in order to avoid relying
totally on formulae and procedures in the textbook and so develop pupils’ mathematics
thinking. Teachers also tried to take account of individual needs in whole-class sessions.

Some teaching methods were perceived differently in terms of advantages and
disadvantages according to age group. 5^th grade teachers mentioned the advantages of
Practical work and Group discussion more than 8^th grade teachers. They believed that
these teaching methods catered for pupils’ affective attitudes such as enjoyment,
positive and autonomous learning. They also believed that pupils could learn how to
relate mathematics to events in everyday life and communicate with peers through
learning mathematics through these methods. 8^th grade teachers valued individual
learning, which satisfied individual needs, while many 5^th grade teachers worried about
the negative effects of individual learning with differentiated materials on the affective
attitudes of lower achievers.

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