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Does classroom management Play a role in student progress?

Ina Louwlouwcj@tut.ac.za

Presentation layout

•Background and motivation•Research question•Sampling•Data collection and analysis•Results•Concluding remarks

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Background and motivation

• Institutional project• Faculty of Science• Identification of problems• Defining “good” and “bad”• Planning the project• What is different?

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Research question

•How does the (“perceived”)quality of teaching and learning;existing support systems; andinfrastructure impact on studentpass rate in specific subjects?

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Sampling

• Stratified random sampling• DoE benchmark of 69%• Sampled 10 “poor” and 5 “good” subjects• Adhered to all ethical priniples

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Data collection and analysis

• Student Questionnaires• Three dimensions• Focused on classroom• Lecturer• Stress factors• Suggested improvementsAnalysis

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Results (1)

• Classroom issues:o Punctualityo Monitoring attendanceo Noiseo Size of group, venueo Lecturer o Timetable

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Results (2)

• Textbooks vs keeping up & asking• Reasons for not asking questions:

•Too shy – 18%•No opportunity – 4%•Figure out myself – 8.7%•Not prepared in class – 8.7%•Poor language skills – 6.3•Lecturer humiliates us – 2%

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Results (3)

• Audibility of lecturer:•21% indicated they can not hear

• 55.2% says tempo and big words• 44.8 says ambient noise

• In “poor” 59% couldn’t hear

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Results (4)

• Class size was a significant factor, but not manageable by lecturer• 97.6% are in large classes•55.6% said it impacts on their ability to understand.

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Results (5)

•Sources of information (ranked):•Lecturing as #1 – 96%•Textbook as #2 – 45.32%

(Lecturers agreed)

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Results (6)

• Stress factors:• Classroom – 46.72%

•Temperature, seating, noise• Lecturing style, tempo, hearing

-19.85%• Duration and time of periods- 9.9%

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Results (7)

•Attendance and feedback:

• “Role call” misunderstood• Feedback policies differ

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Concluding remarks

• Ambiguity is possible• No big difference between “poor” and “good” (group size)• Lecturer evaluation go some way• No arguing of discipline, feedback and friendly approach• What is different?

Department Mathematics and Statistics

Concluding remarks (2)

• Final remark:• Classroom management is a

necessity, buy not the α or Ω

Students are individuals:

One size does NOT fit all!!

Department Mathematics and Statistics