American International Journal of Social Science

Environment Learning as a Predictor of Mathematics Self - Efficacy and Math Achievement
Raed Zedan, Jarmas Bitar

Abstract
The conception of the personal capacity of the person by himself, and the ascription of success or failure, depend amongst others on external factors taking place in his close environment, as well as on internal factors depending on him himself. This study tries to explain the achievements in mathematics as an index for success, by environmental factors- class climate in a certain context- the subject of mathematics, as well as, by internal factors- mathematical self efficacy. And this with the goal of checking the connection between emotion expressed in the study environment in a class context in the mathematics lesson and its various dimensions (satisfaction and enjoyment, teacher- student relations, support, tension…), and cognition, expressed- in the present study, in mathematical self efficacy and achievements in mathematics. In the study 900 students of high schools in Israel participated, use was made of a classroom climate questionnaire in the mathematics lesson (Zedan, 2010), and a questionnaire of mathematical self efficacy (Nasser & Birenbaum, 2005). The findings pointed to strong positive correlation between the dimensions of class climate: satisfaction and enjoyment, the teacher's support, rules and instructions, competitiveness and between mathematical self efficacy and achievements in mathematics, and on weak negative- but significant correlations, between the indices of the classroom climate: lack of gender equality, tension and difficulty and between mathematical self efficacy and achievements in mathematics. The findings also pointed out that the dimensions of the class climate explain 50% of the variance in mathematical self efficacy, and explain 18% of the variance in achievements in mathematics. A strong positive correlation was also found, between mathematical self efficacy and achievements in mathematics, mathematical self efficacy explains 25% of the variance in achievements in mathematics. A very interesting finding in the current study is that mathematical self efficacy, which is considered as part of a cognitive theory, is explained to a very high extent, by the class climate prevailing in the mathematics lesson and its emotional, cognitive and behavioral dimensions, a finding supporting the approach seeing in cognition as part of emotion.

Full Text: PDF