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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8.3: The educational significance of the findings for teachers and government

8.3.1: The educational significance of the findings for 5^th grade teachers

What are the implications of the findings for 5^th grade teachers? Firstly, they should take
account of their pupils’ teaching method preferences in mathematics classes in planning
their teaching. Some incompatibility was found between the teaching methods adopted
in mathematics classes and 5^th graders’ preferences for these methods. Teachers
should adopt Practical work more frequently with greater confidence as the pupils
perceived that this promoted their sense of progress in addition to other aspects of
enjoyment. Teachers should not be biased by their perceptions of the effects of this
method, i.e. that it only promotes enjoyment.

5^th grade teachers should also consider the extent to which they adopt the practice of
Individual work. This teaching method was reported as being adopted relatively often,
but it was not preferred by 5^th graders chiefly because of the extent to which it limited
teacher-pupil interactions. However, the pupils came to like this method more as they
became accustomed to it. 5^th grade teachers need to explain the value of learning
mathematics independently to their pupils to improve their attitudes towards it.

Teachers need to acknowledge that their pupils perceive receiving a lower level of
individual support than their teachers intend and that this support seems to be focused
on low achievers. The pupils who perceived themselves as good at mathematics and
those who perceived high competition in mathematics classes reported a lower
frequency of deployment of Individual help. Teachers need to consider whether by
offering Individual help mainly to those in difficulty they are sending particular messages
to particular groups of pupils. Individual support could be used to raise the attainment of
all pupils.

Teacher explanation and Whole-class discussion are the methods which lead to the
greatest teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil interactions in learning mathematics. The pupils
perceived that these teaching methods could promote positive affective attitudes
towards mathematics learning, while the teachers, overall, perceived that listening to
teacher explanation was not enjoyable for the pupils because it reduced the opportunity
for autonomous learning. The evidence suggests that teachers can use teacher

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