| The aim of this study was to compare performance and motivation of sixth-grade students engaged in instruction using a van Hiele theory based curriculum with sixth-grade students engaged in instruction not using a van Hiele theory based curriculum. While the instruction following the van Hiele theory used the curricula, Shapes and Designs and Discovering Geometry: An Inductive Approach, the comparative group's instruction used Middle School Math Course I. Two hundred seventy-three sixth-grade mathematics students---123 in the control group, and 150 in the treatment group---were involved in the study. The researcher employed a geometry test, Van Hiele Geometry Test ( VHGT), used to measure students' geometry performance and a questionnaire, Course Interest Survey (CIS), used to measure students' motivation toward the geometry instruction. The VHGT and CIS were both administered to the students by the researcher before and after a five-week period of instruction during a single class period. The paired samples t-test, the independent samples t-test, and ANCOVA with alpha = .05 were employed in the analysis of the data. The study indicated that there was no statistically significant difference with respect to students' performance between the treatment and control groups, and that there was a statistically significant difference with regard to students' motivation between the two groups favoring the treatment group instructed with the van Hiele theory based curricula. However, no statistical difference was indicated by gender in regard to students' performance and motivation. |
