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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Activity-based learning

Activity-based learning, where pupils explore their own solutions to problems through
activity and experience, is relatively new in Japan. In 1992, the UK inspectorate reported
that activity-based learning including group work was conducted in few schools in Japan
other than schools designated by the Ministry of Education as ‘experimental’ schools. In
general, teachers were not accustomed to this style Ofteaching (DFE, 1992). The results
of TIMSS showed that Japanese 4^th graders hardly ever used objects they were familiar
with in their everyday life to learn mathematics (National Institute for Educational
Research, 1998). Stevenson et al. (1992a), however, observed that concrete objects
were nearly twice as likely to be used in Japanese 5^th graders’ mathematics classes than
with the same age group in American schools. The frequent adoption of this teaching
method helped Japanese children to understand mathematical concepts earlier than
American children, although by 5^th grade the emphasis in mathematics classes in
Japanese schools moved from dealing with concrete objects to visual presentation such
as drawing, diagrams and demonstrations (Lee et al., 1998).

Since the middle of the 1970s, the Ministry of Education in Japan has attempted to
introduce mathematics teaching methods, which develop pupils’ discovery strategies
and creativity. However, these attempts have not succeeded. This may be because, as
researchers have reported, that while discovery and creative teaching methods were
beneficial for promoting pupils’ positive attitudes they did not promote achievement
(Saeki, 1978). The Ministry of Education (1999) has advocated, in the Course of Study
2002, that opportunities to learn mathematics through experience and investigation
especially needed to be introduced into mathematics classes in Japanese schools at
both elementary and junior high school levels. The introduction of diverse styles of
mathematics activities is believed to help change lesson styles from those dominated by
teacher explanation to those where pupils can become more autonomously involved in
lessons, promote their understanding and ability to apply mathematics, and engender
more positive feelings about learning mathematics.

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