Summary on the article 3

Grade-Level, Gender and Ethnic Differences in Attitudes and Learning Environment in High School Mathematics by Gloria E. Castillo, Marie M. Peiro and Barry J. Fraser

Here is an overview of the study that we have used for our group assignment:
A research was done in South Florida, with 600 participants selected from a high school based on their grade-level, gender and ethnicity differences. The objective was to find out whether these three factors might affect attitudes and learning environment perceptions of these students. The research questions were: (1) Are modified versions of the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire and an attitude questionnaire valid and reliable when used with Grades 9 – 10 mathematics classes? (2) Are there differences in the learning environment perceptions and attitudes of high school mathematics students according to (a) grade level, (b) gender, (c) ethnicity? (3) Is there a relationship between the nature of the classroom environment as assessed with the WIHIC and students’ attitudes? In addition to the quantitative and qualitative data collection methods used, triangulation was also used to improve the validity of the findings. The results obtained were generally meaningful and positive with regards to all the research questions where the modified versions of the instruments used and data collected were valid and reliable.


This study has provided important and useful information to other researchers in terms of the significant findings on the validity and reliability of the modified versions of the instruments used here i.e. WIHIC and an attitude questionnaire, which can be used in other future research studies of the similar field to obtain more important data and results so that learning environments can be further enhanced for the students to learn better. This study has also provided more insights to how ethnic, gender and grade-level differences in high school can affect the students’ perceptions of the learning environment and attitudes toward mathematics. This is crucial as little research has been done on examining these three factors. Next, the results obtained can also be valuable to the educators, educational policy-makers, parents, community members to decide on funding the local, state and federal venues to increase educational reform with regards to the three factors. Lastly, hopefully the study can help the researchers to find out solutions to increase the percentage of women working in science-related and mathematics-related careers in USA.