Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1983

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

Donald J. Dessart

Committee Members

Carl Murphy, Thomas Haladyna, John Ray

Abstract

This study examined those behaviors and characteristics of teachers of seventh-grade mathematics students which have relationships with student attitudes toward mathematics and student perceptions of teacher quality.

Data for this study were collected in Oregon in 1979- 1980 on 868 seventh grade mathematics students and their 40 teachers. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were computed between 32 selected teacher variables and the two student variables of class attitudes toward mathematics and class perceptions of teacher quality and also between the two student variables.

When the class scores for student attitudes toward mathematics were partitioned into quartiles, it was found that in the highest quartile teaching experience had a substantial positive correlation (r = .57, p < .08) with student attitudes toward mathematics. Additionally, the teacher variable of having students read aloud in class had a substantial negative correlation (r = -.67, p < .03) with student attitudes toward mathematics. When the class scores for student perceptions of teacher quality were partitioned into quartiles, it was determined that in the highest quartile there were substantial positive correlations with frequency of testing (r = .65, p < .04) and with diversity of activities in the classroom (r = .55, p < .10).

Stepwise regression analyses were conducted. The best set of teacher variables for predicting student attitudes toward mathematics in the highest quartile were number of years of teaching experience and teacher attitudes toward activity and noise in the classroom. Frequency of attendance at mathematics inservice workshops or courses, amount of discipline, and frequency of testing were found to be the best set of teacher predictor variables for the student variable of student perceptions of teacher quality.

The strongest finding of this study was that there is a very strong positive correlation (r = .74, p < .0001) between student attitudes toward mathematics and student perceptions of teacher quality. It is recommended that future research into the affective domain be coupled with consideration of the students' cognitive domain.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS