Associations Between High School Students' Perceptions Of Mathematics Classroom Learning Environment And Their Attitudes And Academic Achievements In Puntland State,Somalia

Many studies have demonstrated that there is close association between classroom learning environment and students' outcomes.The aim of this study was to assess the high school students' perceptions of mathematics classroom learning environment,their attitudes towards mathematics,as well as investigate association(s)between classroom learning environment perceptions and their outcomes in terms of academic achievement and attitudes towards mathematics.A sample of 246(156 boys and 90 girls)final year(form four)high school students randomly selected from six schools participated in the study.The instruments used in this study was slightly adapted-scales of What Is Happening In this Class(WIHIC)and the Attitude Towards Mathematics Inventory(ATMI).The WIHIC was used to assess students' perceptions of five dimensions of classroom learning environment(Student Cohesiveness,Teacher Support,Involvement and Cooperation and Task Orientation)and ATMI were chosen for assessing students' attitude towards mathematics learning.In addition,mathematics midterm examination score of the students were used to measure their academic achievement.The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of means and standard deviations and inferential statistics of one sample t-test,independentsamples t-test,Simple correlation and multiple linear regression analysis.The study revealed that,(1)Generally,the high school students had favourable perceptions of their mathematics classroom learning environment,but they perceived their classroom learning environment relatively having less favourable of Teacher support and cooperation;no statistically significant gender difference was found in students' perceptions of their mathematics classroom learning environment.(2)The study also revealed that students demonstrated positive attitude towards mathematics;there was no significant gender difference in students' attitudes towards mathematics.(3)Simple correlation analysis revealed that all the scales of classroom learning environment were significantly and positively associated with attitude;in addition,scales of student cohesiveness and involvement were also significantly and positively associated with academic achievement.(4)Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that;Student Cohesiveness was the most significant predictor of both student academic achievement and attitudes towards mathematics.Task Orientation was also found as a significant predictor of student attitudes towards mathematics.Finally,the study provided some implications for teachers to promote the present classroom learning environment,students' attitude and academic achievement.