| The central research question of the study asks: how do middle school students experience learning mathematics in middle school mathematics class? The additional research questions that guide the study ask: what are some of the barriers to learning mathematics in middle school mathematics class and what causes students to understand certain mathematics concepts in middle school mathematics class? The purpose of the study is to discover and understand middle school students' experiences learning mathematics in middle school mathematics classes. Qualitative methods are utilized, and a basic design is employed that uses the interview, document collection, and field notes in order to gather data. The results of the study show repetitive themes communicated by the participants related to how hard middle school mathematics is, how students have to work on mathematics problems by themselves, the fast pace at which middle school students have to work, student disruptions in the mathematics classroom, students playing and talking in the mathematics classroom, and that there are many skills, tools, and resources within the middle school mathematics class that help middle school students learn mathematics. It is concluded that learning mathematics in middle school mathematics classes can be an intimidating experience especially in light of the fact that some of the teachers give little help and that the pace at which some teachers move may be a little too fast for some students. It is also concluded that middle school mathematics students cannot learn mathematics effectively in the presence of competing stimuli such as students talking about things other than mathematics or students simply playing in class. Conversely, however, it is concluded that students have positive experiences learning and understanding mathematics in middle school mathematics classes as a result of certain skills, tools and resources being in place. Based off of the findings of the study, it is recommended that the study be replicated using other American sub-cultures, the "new" findings of the study be tested as hypotheses, the data from the study be re-reviewed, and that the study be completed using observations as the primary means of data collection. |
