Differences in students’ mathematics engagement between gender and between rural and urban schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore secondary school students' mathematics engagement focusing on the cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement domains. A total of 387 students (186 male and 201 female) from the urban and rural secondary schools in Pahang, Malaysia, were randomly selected. There were 158 students from the urban schools and 229 students from the rural schools. Descriptive analyses for mathematics engagement domains revealed behavioural engagement had the highest mean (M = 3.74, SD = .63), followed by cognitive engagement (M = 3.56, SD = .43) and affective engagement (M = 3.48, SD = .47). The mean for students' overall mathematics engagement was 3.56 (SD = .46). Further analyses showed there were significant differences in each of the engagement domains in mathematics learning (affective, cognitive and behavioural), where students in the urban schools showed significantly better in the mean scores for affective, cognitive, behavioural domains and the overall mathematics engagement as compared to the students in the rural schools. Similar findings also showed there were significant differences in the overall mathematics engagement mean between the genders. The findings indicated girls were significantly better than boys in all (affective, cognitive and behavioural) of the engagement domains in mathematics learning. It was also shown girls had higher overall mathematics engagement mean as compared to boys. However, the study also indicated the overall students' mathematics engagement was at a moderate level. Besides, the rural school students did not show high mathematics engagement as compared to the urban school students. Further analyses showed girls significantly had better mathematics engagement as compared to boys. Hence, it is recommended that in order to optimize students' mathematics engagement, they should be actively engaged in more participative learning activities in mathematics classrooms. Focus should be given to rural schools and also among the boys.

Mathematics Achievement: The Relationship between Student Engagement, Parental Involvement, and Peer Influence

“…The development of student engagement can increase mathematics achievement has been proven in many previous studies (e.g., Bobis et al, 2016;Fredricks et al, 2016;Ingram, 2013;Marham et al, 2016;Rimm-Kaufman et al, 2015;Watt et al, 2017). The increased student engagement enables the students to master more mathematics things (Ayub et al, 2017). This study shows that student engagement in mathematics learning is at a moderate level, which agrees with several results from past studies toward students in Malaysia (e.g., Ayub et al, 2017;Salim & Ayub et al, 2017).…”

“…A longitudinal study by Ingram (2013) shows that student engagement has a relationship with the increased quality of mathematics achievement. Because students who are engaged learn more than students who are less engaged , active engagement in terms of behaviour, cognitive and affective ensures that mathematics knowledge and skills learned can be mastered to the maximum (Ayub et al, 2017). In that, student engagement is capable of influencing success as the outcome of mathematics learning.…”

A Systematic Review on Students’ Engagement in Classroom: Indicators, Challenges and Computational Techniques

“…Hence, Wang et al [30] develop and validate student and teacher-report survey to measure students' engagement in mathematics and science by proposing a bifactor modeling approach. In another study, Ayub et al [31] investigate mathematics engagement by focusing on the cognitive, affective and behavioral engagement domains among secondary school students. A total number of 387 students from urban and rural secondary schools in Pahang, Malaysia, were randomly selected.…”

“…Consequently, when planning for mathematics activities or strategies, crucial elements of engagement; cognitive, behavioral and emotional are accounted for to improve engagement in mathematics lessons. The researchers also emphasize strategies that are needed to be integrated during the teaching should not be too teacher-centered [31].…”

The Relationship Between Self Efficacy and Motivation With Stem Education: A Systematic Literature Review

“…STEM education being widely promoted at school level in Malaysia when students performance in mathematics and science at international assessment level are underachieve. Whereas the demand of work field with mathematical skills are increasing, courses at tertiary level involving complex subjects such as mathematics are disfavor among school-leavers (Ayub, Yunus, Mahmud, Salim, & Sulaiman, 2017). This has brought Malaysia to another issue regarding lack of skilled workers in mathematics and science field.…”