The relationship between gifted and general secondary school students' perceptions of the classroom quality and their mathematics achievement in China

Yang Yang, Purdue University

Abstract

Investigating students' perceptions of their classroom environment is one of the ways researchers and educators can effectively determine what factors may benefit students' learning. Student Perceptions of Classroom Quality (SPOCQ; Gentry & Owen, 2004) was used with a group of Chinese gifted and general secondary students in the study. SPOCQ measures students' perceived appeal, challenge, choice, meaningfulness, and academic self-efficacy in their classes, five factors closely related to students' motivation and learning. The purpose of this study was threefold: to investigate if the Chinese version of the SPOCQ instrument (SPOCQ-C) yields reliable and valid data when used with gifted and general Chinese students at the secondary level; to determine what motivational factors as measured by the SPOCQ-C instrument contribute to predicting the mathematics achievement of secondary students in China; and to investigate differences in the perceptions of gifted and general students, and male and female students. Participants included 486 gifted students and 580 general students from two secondary schools in China. Internal consistency reliability estimates and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that SPOCQ-C consisted of five factors measured by 34 items, the same as its original version. Although the sample could hardly represent the whole population of Chinese secondary students, it was heterogeneous in that it included students from two cities located in mid and south China, and gifted students who were enrolled in regular classes and in self-contained classes. Results of this study provided preliminary evidence in using the instrument with heterogeneous Chinese students at the secondary level. Structural equation modeling approaches were used to examine the causal relationships between the five factors and students' mathematics achievement. Results demonstrated that within students' Zone of Proximal Development, students' perceived levels of challenge directly predicted their mathematics performance. Students' self-efficacy beliefs not only influenced their learning but also predicted their mathematics achievement. Gifted students tended to have higher achievement in mathematics when they saw connections between what they learned and what they experienced in real life. Measurement invariance testing revealed that items on SPOCQ-C functioned equivalently across gifted and general students, and across male and female students. Further mean comparisons provided evidence that gifted students in mixed-ability classes perceived significantly higher levels of challenge and self-efficacy in mathematics classes than their general peers. Besides higher levels of challenge and self-efficacy, gifted students in self-contained classes perceived their mathematics classes to be as appealing as and have more choices than gifted students in regular classes.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Gentry, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Mathematics education|Gifted Education|Secondary education

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