Effects of an activity/child centered teaching approach upon the achievement of first and second graders in a rural school setting.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to: (1) ascertain how an activity/child centered approach, in conjunction with student use of manipulatives, affected the mathematics achievement of first and second graders in a rural school setting; and (2) to investigate teacher perception of the success of the specific methodology implemented in the study. The population for this study included the teachers and students in a rural Arizona K-3 elementary school. The study was longitudinal in nature and covered a two year period. The groups used during the first year of the study were first and second graders. The groups for the second year of the study were second and third graders. The K-6 teachers in the district were given an attitude questionnaire constructed to indicate teacher attitude toward worth of the program and various aspects of its implementation. Teacher mathematics lesson descriptions and perceived advantages and disadvantages of the program were also included in the attitude questionnaire. The teacher attitude questionnaires were analyzed in five parts and the findings were represented on charts. Some of the results were determined by a simple tally method and others were converted into percentages. Lesson observations were conducted in each of the six classrooms studied and the results were reported on charts. Achievement for treatment and nontreatment groups was measured by; pre- and post-testing with the Wide Range Achievement Test. T-tests were used to compare student results on the pre- and post-tests each year. In addition, a t-test comparison was made between the first year and second year with Iowa Test of Basic Skills test results. Finally, a one-way analysis of variance was done on the group receiving treatment for only one year, two years, and the non-treatment group. The combined results of the teacher attitude questions, lesson observations and achievement tests were used to make recommendations for program improvements.