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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ethos varies from one classroom to another. In addition, pupils within the same
classroom may have different perceptions of classroom ethos. Overall, 5^th graders were
significantly more likely to perceive satisfaction, friction, and competitiveness in
mathematics classes than 8^th graders. 8^th graders were more likely to perceive difficulties
in mathematics classes than 5^th graders. There was no significant difference in their
perceptions of cohesiveness (see Figure 7.3.1 and Table 7.3.1).

Figure 7.3.1: Mean scores of pupils’ perceptions of classroom ethos in mathematics
classes

5

4

3

2

1

□ 8th graders

□ 5th graders

0  12  3

I=Satisfaction, 2=Cohesiveness, 3=Difficulty, 4=Friction, S=Competitiveness

Table 7.3.1: Mean scores and standard deviation of pupils’ perceptions of classroom
ethos in mathematics classes

Correlations were undertaken between the sub-scales for students of both age groups. A
significant positive correlation existed between satisfaction and cohesiveness, among
the responses of pupils of both age groups, although the correlations were relatively
weak. There was also a weak but significant correlation between friction and
competitiveness among the responses of 5^th graders (Table 7.3.2).

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