The first aim of this study was to identify important aspects of mathematical thinking, and to investigate the relationships between the different aspects of mathematical thinking and mathematics achievement. The second aim was to examine possible gender and school location (urban, suburban, and rural) differences related to aspects of mathematical thinking and mathematics achievement. Two assessments were developed that were suitable for students in the Year 11 scientific stream in Jordan. One test was for aspects of mathematical thinking and the other for mathematics achievement, the latter being consistent with typical school achievement tests for these students in Jordan. The researcher chose and developed items to test mathematical thinking and mathematics achievement from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the internet, research literature, specialist books in mathematics and his own experience. The data were collected in the 2003-2004 academic year from over 500 Year 11 scientific stream students (both male and female) at 20 randomly selected schools from six directorates in the Irbid Governorate, Jordan. In addition, 13 teachers were individually interviewed, and four groups of students were interviewed in focus groups to obtain information about their opinions and about different methods of thinking in mathematics. The teacher interviews were used to identify consistencies and inconsistencies between the test results and the respondents’ opinions of difficulty and importance. In addition, information was obtained about the classroom time teachers devoted to the different aspects of mathematical thinking and the teaching strategies they employed. Six aspects of mathematical thinking were identified by the study: Generalization, Induction, Deduction, Use of Symbols, Logical thinking and Mathematical proof. Mathematical proof was also the most difficult aspect, while Logical thinking was the least difficult. Female students had significantly higher mean scores than males on three of the six aspects of mathematical thinking and on the total test scores. Students attending suburban schools had significantly higher mean scores than students at urban and rural schools on four aspects, and on the total scores. Using multiple regression analysis, all six aspects were found to be important for mathematics achievement. Mathematical proof and Generalization were the most important aspects, Use of symbols and Logical thinking were next in importance, and Deduction and Induction were the least important aspects. Approximately 70 per cent of the variance in mathematics achievement was explained by the six aspects of mathematical thinking, gender, and school location. There was a high level of consistency between teacher opinions of the relative importance of aspects of mathematical thinking and the test results. However, there were some nconsistencies between the teacher opinions and test results with respect to relative difficulty levels of the six aspects. By clarifying the importance for mathematics achievement of the six aspects of mathematical thinking identified, this study has relevance for the teaching of mathematics to Year 11, scientific stream students in Jordan. / PhD Doctorate

Using the G8 countries’ (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States) samples from the 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), this study aimed to explore the phenomenon of double jeopardy in mathematics achievement for socially disadvantaged students. Double jeopardy is a situation of dual penalties where coming from low socioeconomic status (SES) families and attending low SES schools results in concurrent penalties at both the student level and school level in mathematics achievement. This study examined the phenomenon of double jeopardy in the G8 countries across four school locations: rural regions, towns, cities, and metropolitan areas. This study also examined four separate definitions of socioeconomic status in order to determine the effectiveness of each definition. The four definitions corresponded to four SES measures utilized in this study: father’s SES, mother’s SES, family occupation SES, and combined family SES. Multilevel analysis with students nested within schools indicated that significant double jeopardy effects varied according to SES measure, school location, and country. However, the majority of the double jeopardy effects across all the variables were large in magnitude. Furthermore, the combined family SES and the metropolitan school location were often the most sensitive SES measure and school location, respectively, to double jeopardy in the G8 countries.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the elementary school students&rsquo / motivational traits (achiever, curious, conscientious and social) in science. More specifically present study examined the effects of gender, grade level and location of the school on elementary school students&rsquo / motivational traits. The data in the main study was collected by Motivational Pattern Questionnaire from randomly selected 8 classes of randomly selected 15 schools in five districts of Ankara. A total of 3685 students (1927 females and 1748 males), about 230 students per school, were participated in the study. The questionnaire was administrated to 6th (n=1291), 7th (n=1177) and 8th (n=1207) graders in spring 2004-2005 semester. According to the obtained data, scores of the students are assigned to four percentile groups. Each student assigned to the motivational pattern according to the highest percentage. To find the effects of gender, grade level, and location of the school on students motivational traits, one- way MANOVA was used. Results of the statistical analysis revealed that gender, has a significant effect on students&rsquo / motivational traits and girls are more achiever, curious, conscientious and sociable than boys. Furthermore, grade level has a significant effect on students&rsquo / motivational traits and 6th graders are more achiever, curious, conscientious and sociable than 7th and 8th graders. It is also found that scores of the students related to the motivational traits decreases as the grade level increases. This means that 8th graders have lowest mean score while 6th graders have the highest mean score relate to motivational trait. While students from urban schools are more curious and more sociable than the students from rural schools, no significant difference between the mean scores of the students from urban schools and the students from rural schools with respect to achiever students and conscientious students dimensions was demonstrated.

Public school planning and land use planning have become increasingly separated fields over the last 35 years. This results in misaligned goals when school districts do not plan facilities that support a community's land use planning goals. The result is a disjointed growth pattern where new schools are built on the urban fringe and act as a magnet for new development that often goes against desired development patterns. Previous research on school locations and development patterns has focused on institutional barriers to cooperation and strategies to help local governments cooperate better with local land use planners. To date, there has been no significant research that attempts to quantify the relationship between school location and development patterns and the transportation infrastructure necessary to serve new development. This research shows that there is a relationship between school location and new development. Four counties in Georgia were selected as case studies and analyzed with a Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine the significance of the link between these activities. Counties were selected based on their character (urban, suburban, exurban, rural) and analyzed separately. An elementary school and high school were analyzed for each county. In addition, interviews with school facility planners were conducted to further define what institutional barriers prevent cooperation among local land use planners and school planners. It was found that there is a wide range of levels of cooperation between school planners and local planners. Some school districts had a formalized communication process with local planners, some had an ad-hoc communication process, and others had no process at all. Recommendations are made on ways to improve the cooperation between these two professional fields. This thesis also examines the link between education and transportation capital funding. Georgia lawmakers are struggling to determine what type of capital funding mechanism would be appropriate for new transportation projects, but these new projects may negatively impact educational funding, which is currently based on a sales tax.