An exploration of Ghanaian students’ valuing in mathematics: How does it evolve across school levels?

Abstract

A total of 1,256 students selected through stratified random sampling from 18 primary and public secondary schools as a fair sample across urban and rural settings in the Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana responded to the ‘what I find important (in my mathematics learning)’ questionnaire. Section A contained 64 Likert type questions, and section B contained 10 continua dimension questions in which respondents provided weighted responses on their valuing in relation to learning mathematics, using a slider scale. In this paper, section B was visually analyzed in MS Excel, using the radar chart function to explore the evolution of values in mathematics across school levels. Findings suggested that the students’ values in mathematics evolve as they progress through school, shifting from learning content to learning environment to learning approaches.