Pupils in mathematics lessons in England rarely have an opportunity to comment on their experiences. When they do most researchers validate their comments through classroom observations or interviews with their teachers. This study was concerned only with the views of pupils in mathematics classrooms. Eighteen pupils in a middle school in England were interviewed to establish how they perceived their mathematics lessons. Data were collected when the pupils were in Year 6 and 7 and consisted of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. A variety of original sorting tasks were used to prompt discussions and probe the issues raised by the pupils. The issues the pupils talked about were authority, identity and community. These manifested themselves as setting, assessment and classroom organisation. The pupils designed an Ideal Mathematics Classroom which contained features that they felt were more likely to support their learning of mathematics. They believed that in the Ideal Mathematics Classroom they would be more likely to be successful learners of mathematics. Based on the comments from the pupils, the thesis contains recommendations to teachers on how to create a classroom environment that is conducive to pupils developing a positional identity as successful learners of mathematics.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:589418 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Allen, Barbara Mary |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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