Mathe ist schwierig und Deutsch aktuell: Vergleichende Studie zur Charakterisierung von Schulfächern aus Schülersicht

Abstract

In the present study different school subject domains are investigated in order to detect differences and similarities between these domains. Concerning the characteristics of domains a questionnaire including 14 categories was adopted. The sample consisted of 1228 students (55 % female) in grade levels 8 (51 %) and 11. To investigate the empirical structure of the 7 subject domains under investigation with respect to its characteristics we used correspondence analysis as a dimension-reducing method. Results show that authentic teaching strongly differs across domains and that there are clusters of school subjects showing a similar profile. Further, we found little gender differences with respect to students' characterization of specific domains.

Dominant achievement goals and academic outcomes across tracks in high school

“…Self-efficacy and IQ had stronger associations with Grades English and Math than with Grade Dutch. These results are in line with the findings of Haag and Götz (2012), who found in a German sample that students think of (a) Math that it is difficult, that one needs talent to get good grades and that the grade is important for school success, of (b) German language that it is relatively easy, that one does not really need talent to get good grades and that the grade is not very important for school success, and of (c) English language that it is relatively easy, that one does not need very much talent but that the grade is important for school success. The role of gender may be associated with the fact that girls are more inclined to exert effort than boys and are less prone to behavioural self-handicapping (Hirt & McCrea, 2009;McCrea, Hirt, & Milner, 2008).…”

Characteristics of teaching and students’ emotions in the classroom: Investigating differences across domains

“…These relationships were significantly weaker for the language domains (German and English with respect to anxiety; English with respect to hopelessness) as compared to mathematics. A possible explanation for this result might be that the loss of control due to the high instructional content requirements may lead to negative emotions for mathematics, as the level of perceived difficulty is rather high in this domain (i.e., high baseline of difficulty makes high course requirements more salient for negative emotions; see Haag & Goetz, 2012). As compared to anger and boredom, anxiety and hopelessness might more strongly be related to achievement outcomes.…”

“…Thus, high intrinsic value and high control appraisals combined with enthusiastic teaching can clearly be assumed to foster enjoyment and pride in students and reduce anger, helplessness, and boredom. Concerning anxiety, the non-significant relation with supportive presentation style certainly makes sense: It is possible that high control reduces anxiety, whereas value enhances anxiety (e.g., worry cognitions related to receiving bad achievement outcomes in a domain which is judged as being highly important; c.f., Haag & Goetz, 2012). In combination, these positive and negative effects of supportive presentation style on anxiety might reverse each other resulting in a non significant relation between this factor and anxiety.…”

“…The way the teacher delivers the material, the level of clarity and organization, the enthusiasm that he or she exudesall these characteristics may have a direct impact on students' academic emotional experiences by means of ''emotional contagion'' (e.g., humor of the teacher enhancing students' academic enjoyment) or via students' cognitive appraisals (e.g., subjective control over the situation). Other antecedents of classroom emotions include genetic disposition (e.g., Pekrun, 2006), subjective beliefs related to domains (e.g., ''Mathematics is not relevant to my life''; cf., Haag & Goetz, 2012), emotions of peers related to the academic domain in general (e.g., ''School is boring''), and related to specific domains in particular (e.g., ''Mathematics is boring''; e.g., Robinson, 1975). So, although teaching characteristics are not the only source of student emotions in the classroom, they are certainly a highly important one (Frenzel et al, 2009).…”

Mathematics in Perception of Pupils and Teachers

“…The results show that, similarly with the Czech republic, German pupils consider mathematics to be difficult but significant. however, the importance to the everyday life is quite low compared to the German language (haag & Götz, 2012).…”