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Theme: Mathematics, Motivation
A systematic review of strategies to raise pupils’ motivational effort in Key Stage 4
mathematics
Authors:
Chris Kyriacou & Maria Goulding (2006)
Publisher:
EPPI-Centre Social Science Research Unit, London: Institute of Education
What helps increase KS4 students’ motivation to work hard at learning mathematics?
Why do some students feel motivated to work hard to improve at mathematics, while others see
little point in putting effort into learning the subject? What can teachers do to help all students take
a positive view towards learning mathematics and realise their potential? The authors of this study
carried out a systematic review of research to find strategies which could help increase the amount
of effort that average and below average students make to learn mathematics at KS4 (ages 14-16
years).
The reviewers found a range of initiatives that have the potential to increase students’ motivation to
put effort into learning mathematics. These included helping students to view themselves as
mathematicians by helping students gain a deeper understanding of mathematics and by providing
a supportive classroom climate. A number of innovative strategies for raising students’ motivation
to work at mathematics helped too. These included using ICT (such as interactive whiteboards)
and assessment for learning practices.
The reviewers also explored the impact of different grouping practices on students’ motivation.
They did not find clear-cut evidence for setting, or for single sex classes in co-educational schools.
Of greater importance in the reviewers’ opinion was the effect on students of being placed in too
high or too low a set.
The reviewers stressed how teachers needed ongoing support and training when implementing
new initiatives because they demanded a high level of skill and expertise. They suggested that one
of the best ways would be for teachers to work collaboratively, with specialist support. In this way
they could explore and evaluate changes to their practice which have positive effects on students’
motivation.
Keywords
England; Pedagogy; Teaching methods; Mathematics; Key Stage 4; Secondary schools;
Curriculum; Classroom organisation, Motivation
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Contents
What did the reviewers mean by ‘motivational effort’?
How did helping students to see themselves as mathematicians help?
What innovative strategies did the reviewers find for enhancing motivational effort?
What effect did different grouping practices have on students’ motivational effort?
How was the research designed?
What are the implications of the study?
Where can I find out more?
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What did the reviewers mean by ‘motivational effort’?
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The reviewers explained how a student who is highly motivated towards mathematics has:
 positive attitudes towards mathematics – the student finds mathematics interesting,
enjoyable, do-able and relevant;
 positive beliefs about self-efficacy – the student believes that making an effort will lead to
success;
 positive intention – the student wants to learn more and do well in attainment tests; and
 positive action – the student shows effort and perseverance, and positively seeks out new
challenges.
The reviewers highlighted how research on motivation towards school subjects shows that the
relationship between these four elements is complex. While positive attitudes, beliefs, intentions
and effort go together, this is not always necessarily the case. For example, some students who
show signs that they enjoy mathematics may nevertheless display a lack of effort towards learning
mathematics; whilst other students may put much effort into learning mathematics, but have little
interest in the subject.
The reviewers focused primarily on the effort students put into learning mathematics. They looked
at the other elements of motivation in terms of factors that can have an influence on motivational
effort.
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How did helping students to see themselves as mathematicians help?
The extent to which students saw themselves as mathematicians was the most important area to
emerge from the studies in the review. By this, the reviewers meant students who, regardless of
their level of ability and set placement, enjoyed mathematics, were interested in the subject, and
could do the mathematics they were set. Not seeing themselves as mathematicians tended to
create barriers to putting effort into mathematics. For example, some students view mathematics
as a subject that only clever people do well in and believe that any effort they put in to learning
mathematics will make little difference. Two of the studies found that many students felt the
mathematics they were doing for GCSE was of little interest or relevance to them; they comply in
class rather than engage with the mathematics.
Students worked harder when they developed a more positive identity of themselves. To achieve
this teachers needed to:
 provide a caring and supportive classroom climate;
 provide activities which students find challenging and enjoyable;
 enable students to gain a deeper understanding of the mathematics;
 provide opportunities for students to collaborate; and
 enable students to feel equally valued.
Of these, the most important was helping students to gain a deeper understanding of the
mathematics they were doing. Being caring and supportive, and making mathematics enjoyable
helped create a classroom climate conducive to increasing student effort.
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What innovative strategies did the reviewers find for enhancing motivational effort?
The studies showed that strategies making use of ICT (including interactive whiteboards,
videoconferencing, software packages and calculators) could have a powerful effect on how hard
students worked. Two kinds of motivating effects were apparent:
 using ICT to make lessons enjoyable; and
 using ICT in a way that enhanced deeper understanding of mathematics.
The reviewers pointed out that whilst both were important, the second was crucial.
Other innovative methods contributed to raising effort levels too. These included:
 cognitive acceleration in mathematics education (CAME) or CAME-type lessons;
 teaching based on extending features of the NNS in primary schools into secondary
schools (such as the mental/oral starters and whole class interactive teaching); and
 assessment for learning practices.
But teachers needed to have a good understanding of how an innovation could be effective and
needed to develop the necessary skills and techniques to put it into practice effectively. Developing
such understanding and skills was achieved through enabling teachers to work together in
collaborative groups with external support to explore and evaluate the innovations together.
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What effect did different grouping practices have on students’ motivational effort?
Consistent with other research, the review was inconclusive about grouping.
Setting
The impact of setting on students’ motivation was not clear-cut. The reviewers commented that
whilst students in the higher sets tended to be more motivated towards mathematics, this may
have been because they put effort into getting into the higher set, rather than feeling motivated
from being in the higher set.
The studies noted an increase in disaffection towards mathematics among students in the bottom
set due mainly to the students knowing that being in the lower set meant they would be entered at
the lower tiers at GCSE.
Of greater importance in the reviewers’ opinion, was the effect of students being misplaced rather
than the effects of setting per se, as some degree of misplacing was inevitable. Average ability
students finding themselves in too high a set could find the work too difficult, which could
undermine their self-confidence and motivation, whilst the work in too low a set could lack
challenge.
Mixed ability groups
The studies which explored the views of students who moved from mixed ability groups in KS3 to
sets in KS4 found that some students enjoyed mathematics more when they were in mixed ability
classes. But it was unclear whether this was due to the effects of different types of grouping or to
changes in teaching approaches as the students changed key stages.
Single sex classes
One of the studies included in the review looked at the use of single sex classes in co-educational
schools. It found that they were not a panacea for raising motivational effort. There was evidence
that boys only classes exacerbated the ‘laddish culture’ that such classes were intended to
undermine. But the reviewers were cautious about generalising from a single study.
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How was the research designed?
The reviewers followed the guidelines and used the tools produced by the Evidence for Policy and
Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre). The process involved:
 identifying a review question as a focus;
 searching databases for relevant studies on the chosen theme;
 screening the studies according to inclusion and exclusion criteria;
 analysing studies meeting the inclusion criteria in depth, including ‘weighing’ the quality of
the evidence according to the strength of the research design; and
 synthesising across the final selection of studies.
The reviewers focused on studies published between 1999 and 2005 and on students aged 11-16
years in mainstream classes in England. Initially, they identified around 300 studies. Applying the
inclusion/exclusion criteria produced 25 studies which were included in the review. The studies
explored four key areas:
 pupil grouping – the effects of grouping by ability (setting) and the use of single sex classes
in co-educational schools;
 pupil identity – the extent to which students saw themselves as ‘mathematicians’;
 teaching for engagement or classroom climate – how teachers’ decisions over the choice of
teaching and learning activities, the way they interacted with students and the type of
classroom climate they established, were intended to enhance students’ engagement; and
 innovative teaching methods, including innovative teaching methods based on information
and communication technology (ICT).
The reviewers’ analysis focused on the role played by each of these four areas in strategies to
raise motivational effort in Key Stage 4 mathematics.
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What are the implications of the study?
In completing this digest, the authors began to ask questions about implications of the findings for
practitioners.
Teachers may like to consider the following implications of this study:
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the review suggested that working collaboratively with the support of specialists helped
teachers to improve their practice. Could you work with a colleague to increase the effort
your students put into mathematics? You could for example, investigate, ways of making
mathematics more engaging and relevant (perhaps by involving more discussion), and
enabling all students to feel successful.
could you do more to harness the power of ICT to deepen students’ understanding of
mathematics, for example by using dynamic graphical software to illustrate the effect of
changing coefficients on the graphs of functions?
are you confident your setting policy brings out the best in all students? For example, are
you confident students are allocated to sets on the basis of their potential rather than their
behaviour?
when teaching in classes set by ability, could you do more to ensure work is matched to
individual student’s ability levels, perhaps by organising within-class groupings to provide
students with differentiated tasks?
School leaders may find the following implications helpful in acting on the messages in this study:
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do your mathematics teachers have regular planned opportunities to improve the range of
their teaching strategies, for example to make better use of ICT to deepen pupils’
understanding, through collaborative professional development?
How could you support colleagues who want to evaluate the impact of innovative strategies
on their students’ motivational effort?
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Where can I find out more?
A short article about helping students to overcome their difficulties with mathematics is available in
the NERF Evidence Bulletin, Issue 2 at: http://www.nerfuk.org/pdf/NERFBulletinIssue2.pdf?version=1
Assessment for learning: putting it into practice. Research of the Month summary on the GTC
website: http://www.gtce.org.uk/policyandresearch/research/ROMtopics/afl/
Ability grouping: What difference does the type of grouping make to teaching and learning in
schools? Research of the Month summary on the GTC website:
http://www.gtce.org.uk/policyandresearch/research/ROMtopics/groupingpupils/
Experiencing secondary school mathematics. Research of the Month summary on the GTC
website: http://www.gtce.org.uk/policyandresearch/research/ROMtopics/maths/
CAME mathematics project – a case study:
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/giftedandtalented/goodpractice/cs/camemaths/
ICT as a tool for developing students’ mathematics skills:
http://www.interactiveeducation.ac.uk/maths_resources_calculators1.htm
A short article about using whiteboards in mathematics is available in the NERF Evidence Bulletin,
Issue 3 at: http://www.nerf-uk.org/pdf/NERFBulletinIssue3.pdf?version=1
Making mathematics count: The report of the Smith inquiry into post-14 mathematics education:
http://www.mathsinquiry.org.uk/report/