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

23

Summary

This brief review of the literature suggests that the teaching methods adopted in
mathematics classes in Japanese schools reflect the aims of mathematics education in
Japan, which have valued the development of pupils’ mathematical thinking since the
1960s. Whole-class teaching is the most frequently adopted teaching method, because
teachers believe that this method can develop pupils’ mathematical thinking through
verbalised communication between teacher and pupil and between pupils. Group work is
sometimes adopted to encourage pupils to learn mathematics in more familiar contexts.
Individual work is not popularly deployed, because individual differences are given little
attention. Both pros and cons exist for using textbooks in mathematics classes. Activity-
based learning and using a computer are new teaching methods, and some teachers
suspect the effectiveness of these teaching methods in promoting pupils’ cognitive
development.

1.7: The main research questions

This study aims to examine whether teachers and pupils perceive that widening the
range of teaching methods adopted in mathematics classes is likely to positively
promote pupils’ affective attitudes, at 5^th and 8^th grades in Japanese schools. There were
several reasons why 5^th (10-11 year-olds) and 8^th graders (13-14 year-olds) were
chosen.

The choice of 5^th graders, firstly, concerned the developmental transition in their abstract
thinking. 5^th graders are likely to be moving from the pre-formal operational stage to
formal-operational stage (Piaget, 1967). The curriculum in mathematics education for 5^th
graders in Japan beings to include calculations using fractions and decimals which
requires children to think abstractly. Therefore, the teaching methods deployed in
mathematics classes at this stage held particular interest. Secondly, children begin to
develop the capacity for self-criticism after age 9 (Gesell et al., 1946). Such self-criticism
might affect their perceptions of self and their environment negatively. The third reason
for choosing 5^th graders was methodological. It was important to have comparability
between questionnaires for elementary school children and those for junior high school
children. Therefore, the target age needed to be chosen from the upper grade of

23

<<   <   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   >   >>