| Experts in educational psychology advocate the use of student choice as an instructional strategy. However, research suggests that middle school teachers are failing to provide opportunities for student curricular decision-making/choice in their classrooms. This study was designed to determine whether there is a difference in the mathematic self-concepts of middle school students with varying levels of perceived curricular choice in their math classes, and whether this is generalizable across gender and/or achievement levels. Participants were 340 seventh-grade students from one Southwestern and two Mid-Atlantic states. A three-way analysis of variance was used, with participants' scores on the mathematics portion of the Self Description Questionnaire-II (Marsh, 1990) as the dependent variable. Independent variables were gender, math achievement level, and the amount of curricular choice participants reported experiencing in mathematics classrooms. Contrary to the primary research hypothesis, this study did not find a difference in the mathematics self-concepts of middle school students with varying levels of perceived curricular choice in math classes. Neither a main effect of gender nor significant interactions among choice, gender, and/or achievement levels were identified either, although the results hinted at the existence of a three-way interaction between gender, perceived curricular choice, and academic achievement. The study did support the existence of a significant main effect of achievement level on the mathematics self-concept of middle school students, replicating the findings of Marsh, Byrne, and Shavelson (1988). Additionally, a two-way analysis of variance revealed main effects of gender and achievement level on the level of curricular choice students perceive in their math classes. Males report more opportunities for choice than females. Below average achieving students report more opportunities for choice than above average achieving students. This study provided no evidence, however, that these differences influence students' self-concepts in mathematics. More research is required to determine what impact on students, if any, these differences do have. |
