The Impact Of Middle School Students’ Engagement In Mathematics Learning On Academic Performance And Improvement Strategies

Mathematics education carries the function of implementing the fundamental task of cultivating virtue and cultivating people and implementing quality education.As mathematics is the main subject in junior high school,students’ mathematics performance is an important indicator of academic quality and learning ability.In the process of learning mathematics,learning engagement is a necessary condition for students to learn effectively,which affects their learning ability and effectiveness.The "Compulsory Education Mathematics Curriculum Standards(2022 Edition)" emphasizes that students’ learning should be an active process,and students should stimulate their interest in mathematics learning,develop the habit of independent thinking and the willingness to cooperate and communicate through the study of mathematics courses.Therefore,this paper focuses on the variables at the individual and class levels of students,and studies the impact of the total mathematics learning engagement of junior high school students and its four sub-dimensions(emotional,behavioral,cognitive,and social engagement)on mathematics academic performance.This study selected 1414 students from 28 classes in a middle school in Henan Province as the survey subjects,with a valid sample of 1307.The questionnaire had an effective rate of 92.5%.Analyze the current situation of middle school students’ mathematical learning engagement through descriptive statistics and independent sample t-tests.Then,under the premise of controlling the variables at the individual level and the class level,establishing a student-class two-level linear model(HLM)to explore the impact of middle school students’ mathematical learning engagement on mathematical performance.Further,the quantile regression model was used to explore the heterogeneous impact of junior high school students’ mathematics learning engagement on mathematics performance.Finally,following results are drawn.(1)The results of current analysis show that the total engagement of junior high school students in mathematics learning is in a positive state,among which the score of emotional engagement dimension is the highest,and the score of cognitive engagement dimension is the lowest.(2)The results of multilevel linear regression analysis suggest that the total engagement in mathematics learning has a substantial positive effect on mathematics achievement under the premise of controlling the variables at the individual level(including pre-test scores)and the class level.By incorporating mathematical emotional,behavioral,cognitive,and social engagement into the model,the results find that each dimension of engagement had a noticeable positive impact on mathematical academic performance.By incorporating the four dimensions of mathematical learning engagement into the same model,it is found that emotional and cognitive engagement had a positively significantly affect mathematical performance,while behavioral and social engagement had no significant impact on mathematical performance.In a word,cognitive engagement has the greatest impact on mathematical performance.(3)The results of quantile regression show that junior high school students’ total mathematical engagement,emotional,cognitive,behavioral,and social engagement all had a heterogeneous impact on their mathematical performance.For students with average academic performance,the total engagement in mathematics has a more noticeable positive promoting effect on their academic performance.For students with average or above average grades,increasing emotional engagement is more likely to improve their math grades.Mathematical behavioral engagement has a promoting effect on the performance of students with average or above grades,but has no significant influence students with lower grades in mathematics.What’s more,cognitive and social engagement in mathematics have a positive impact on the mathematical performance of students at intermediate levels.Based on empirical conclusions and interview results with students of different grades,it is recommended that teachers improve their mathematical cognitive engagement by infiltrating mathematical thinking methods,cultivating students’ deep strategies,and cultivating students’ good psychology.By enriching teaching methods,creating teaching situations,and combining information technology with the classroom,we can strengthen emotional engagement in mathematics.Promote mathematical behavior engagement by creating a good classroom atmosphere,guiding students to actively attribute,and improving the quality of homework.Consider enhancing social engagement in mathematics by creating opportunities for peer collaboration and fostering a good learning atmosphere.