The Relations P Among Perception of Mathematics Classroom Environment, Intrinsic Motivation, and Academic Achievement: The Case of First Year Students in Faculty of Science, Addis Ababa University
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2009-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship among perception of
mathematics classroom environment, mathematics intrinsic motivation, and mathematics
achievement in the cOl,lrse Calculus-I for first year students in the Faculty of Science,
Addis Ababa University. The study employed survey methodology to obtain the self-reports
of 248 first year students of the departments of computer science, statistics, and earth
science who were selected using stratified random sampling technique. The data were
collected using perception of mathematics classroom environment questionnaire and
mathematics intrinsic motivation inventolY which were developed for the purpose of this
stu.dy. Mathematics grades of the participants for the course Calculus-I were also obtained
from offiCial records. Descriptive statistics, correlation, multiple regression analysis, and
step-wise regression analysis were used with the help of SPSS 15 to analyze the data.
There were positive and significant relationships among perception of mathematics
classroom environment, mathematics intrinsic motivation, and mathematics achievement
for science first year students. Among the factors of perception of mathematics classroom
environment, student engagement was the best predictor of mathematics intrinsic
motivation and mathematics achievement, Significant gender differences in mean scores of
perception of mathematics classroom environment, mathematics intrinsic motivation, and
mathematics achievement were found for science first year stude;)ts in favor of males.
Analysis at department level has revealed significant gender differences in mean scores of
perception. of mathematics classroom environment and mathematics intrinsic motivation
for computer science first year students in favO! of males. In each of statistics and earth
science departments male and female first year students perceived their mathematics
classroom environment Similarly and had similar level of mathematics intrinsic motivation,
Significant gender differences in mean mathematics achievement score were found in the
three departments separately. Based on the results some recommendations are forwarded.
Description
Keywords
Among Perception of Mathematics Classroom Environment