| dc.description.abstract | Learner achievement in Mathematics, in general, and in geometry in particular has been of great concern to researchers involved in mathematics education as well as principals of high schools and educationalists. This concern has led in research seeking to investigate, for instance, the antecedents that positively or negatively contribute to learner achievement in geometry. Many of the reported work have investigated the antecedents within the context of mathematics teaching and learning in general. However, very few researchers have
investigated the antecedents contributing to learner achievement in geometry. The present study fills this gap in the literature by investigating the extent to which selected socioeconomic variables, socio-demographic variables, learner opinions and perception about geometry, learner attitude toward geometry, and learner perception about geometry educator affect learner achievement in geometry. The study further investigates how these construct determine learner achievement in written geometry test. The participants in the study were 328 Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners sampled from the population of 844 learners enrolled in at Sol Plaatje Secondary School in Mmabatho, South Africa. The instruments used to measure the study constructs were quantitative survey questionnaire instrument and a written geometry test administered to learners in the two
grades. Research questions formulated for the study were tested using simple descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and logistic regression analysis techniques. The correlation analyses revealed evidence of significant correlation achievements in geometry and age, household wealth quintile, ownership of telephone, household ownership of TV, household ownership of refrigerator, and household access to tap water. The ANOVA test revealed significant differences in the geometry achievement grades and age, ethnicity, household wealth quintile, household ownership of TV, household ownership of refrigerator,
household access to telephone, and household access to tap water. By using logistic regression modelling method, gender was found to decrease the odds of achieving a 'fairly poor' or 'poor' grade in geometry compared to achieving a 'very good' grade; age was found to increase the odds of achieving a 'fairly poor' or 'poor' grade in geometry comparing to achieving a 'very good' grade. Of the number of recommendations provided in the main text, the most prominent are that it would be desirable for future research to include the perceptions of mathematics educators and that it would also be meaningful for future studies to include achievement outcomes in other areas of mathematics including algebra, calculus, probability, and simple statistical analysis. | en_US |
