A Study of Elementary School Low-ability Indigenous Students’ Mathematical Affect in Remedial Teaching Program by Peer Tutoring

Abstract

In Taiwan, with sixteen indigenous tribes, the study invited 32 fourth to sixth-grade students, including fifteen high-ability and seventeen low-ability indigenous students from two Truku tribal elementary schools. This research adopted a case study. A peer tutoring model was designed by analyzing mathematical affective theory and peer tutoring literature to implement through 8 remedial sessions, totaling 12 hours. The peer tutoring model employed a “concentric tutoring structure”. The teaching process was that the researcher first explained the mathematical task, university students led groups of indigenous students in task problem-solving, and the entire class engaged in the sharing of problem-solving strategies finally. The researcher developed research tools, including classroom recordings, reflective journals, mathematical task sheets, and a mathematical affective scale, applying qualitative analysis and quantitative statistics to analyze the data. The results show that the indigenous students were influenced by both school and tribal cultures, leading to conflicts or collaborations in their mathematic beliefs, emotions, attitudes, and values (Godin, 2002). Following the instructional intervention, all students showed a significant improvement in positive mathematical affect (t=4.390, p<.001). Low-ability indigenous students, in particular, not only significantly improved their mathematical affect but also increased their willingness to invest time in mathematics learning and more liked mathematics (Z=-2.819, P =0.005, Z= -3.195, P=0.001, Z=3.195, P =0.005). Future research could focus on developing training programs for the mathematical communication skills of high-ability students and designing remedial teaching materials to enhance the “cooperative and reciprocity” dynamics in the peer tutoring model.

Presenters

Ting Ying Lo
Associate Professor, Child Development and Family Studies, Tzu Chi University

Details

Presentation Type

Poster Session

Theme

Science, Mathematics and Technology Learning

KEYWORDS

Indigenous students, Mathematical affect, Mathematical cultural ecology, Peer tutoring model, Remedial teaching