Students' Views on Mathematics in Single-Sex and Coed Classrooms in Ghana

In this study, we investigated students' views on themselves as learners of mathematics as a function of school-by-sex (N = 2034, MAge = 18.49, SDAge = 1.25; 12th-grade; 58.2% girls). Using latent variable Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the measurement and structural equivalence as well as...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEuropean Journal of Science and Mathematics Education Vol. 4; no. 2; pp. 229 - 250
Main Authors Bofah, Emmanuel Adu-tutu, Hannula, Markku S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 15.04.2016
Subjects
Coeducation
Correlation
Educational Environment
Factor Analysis
Family Influence
Females
Foreign Countries
Gender Differences
Ghana
Goodness of Fit
Grade 12
Males
Mathematics Education
Maximum Likelihood Statistics
Self Esteem
Single Sex Schools
Statistical Analysis
Student Attitudes
Student Surveys
Teacher Competencies
Ghana
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Summary:In this study, we investigated students' views on themselves as learners of mathematics as a function of school-by-sex (N = 2034, MAge = 18.49, SDAge = 1.25; 12th-grade; 58.2% girls). Using latent variable Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the measurement and structural equivalence as well as the equality of latent means of scores across single-sex and coed schools were tested. Findings regarding the latent mean differences revealed that girls in single-sex schools had significantly higher mathematics self-confidence than did students' in coed schools. Girls in coed schools had significantly lower mathematics self-concepts than did boys in single-sex, girls in single-sex and boys in coed schools. Girls in single-sex schools had significantly higher family encouragement than students' in all other school types. Moreover, a more complex dynamics were found on the teacher quality variate. This paper argues for a deeper understanding of sex-school interaction and of possible causes of students' views on mathematics.
ISSN:2301-251X
DOI:10.30935/scimath/9467