Nov09_article06

Editor’s Note: When you have a diversity of cultures and different primary languages, levels of experience, and learning styles, you need additional options for learners and teachers to enhance the teaching - learning process. Tutoring, coupled with audiovisuals and/or interactive multimedia are possible options. This study uses videos to enhance student attitudes and improve learning in the experimental group.

Enhancing Mathematical Attitude through Video Programmes Among 10^th Grade Standard NIOS Students – An Experiment

S. Rastogi and R. K. Arya

Africa and India

Introduction

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), New Delhi has opened admissions and course selection without any genuine restriction. Any person who desires to join a Secondary level programme may select any course (including Mathematics) of his /her choice. Later on, they may face problems of low achievement, particularly in Mathematics. A negative attitude or a low positive attitude towards Mathematics may be a reason for low achievement. It is essential to improve attitude towards this subject if we want a higher level of achievement. An individual, who has associated himself with positive affect or feeling with some psychological object, is said to like that object, or in other words, has a favourable attitude towards that object. Similarly, an individual who has associated negative affect or feeling with that object is said to dislike that object or in other words, he has an unfavorable attitude towards that object. Thus, attitude can be expressed as a continuum from highly positive attitude to highly negative attitude, with various shades of positive negative attitudes in between including a neutral zone which indicate neither favourable nor unfavourable attitude. Thinking In terms of a continuum, it is possible to find out the degree or extent of ‘positiveness’ or ‘negativeness’ of an attitude. Thus, the attitudes of different individual can be compared. This definition appears to be more scientific and useful for operational and measurement purposes. The investigator has adopted this definition in the present study. Traditional assumption of most research on attitudes (Newcomb et. al. 1963) is that the introduction of new information, both positive and negative, will change the attitudes of people, especially those in the process of school education. A concept of attitude change, which equally integrates belief and behaviour and includes the value of conflict as a means of institutional reform (designed to realise human values), has profound educational implications.

Objectives

Following objectives were framed in order to examine the effect of Video Programmes on Attitude towards Mathematics among 10th grade NIOS students.

Methodology

While selecting a suitable Mathematical attitude scale, the investigator had given thought to the condition of NIOS learners and their previous background in the field of Mathematics. These NIOS learners belong to a heterogeneous group, having different levels of previous academic experiences. These learners have less experience in learning Mathematics compared to traditional students having a continuous 10 year study experience. NIOS learners do not attend regular classes like their counterparts in a conventional system. They rarely meet their teacher / tutor for interaction on various issues. Under these circumstances, the investigator examined various available tests in the NCERT library but no test was found to be satisfactory because these tests were developed for traditional students. The investigator also examined a Mathematical attitude scale developed and standardized by Dr. S. Rastogi. The test had item related to attitude towards Mathematics for the beginners. This test has 24 items, having 12 positive and 12 negative items distributed over a five point scale. The learners were supposed to put a tick mark in one of the five columns of their choice. There was no time limit for completing this test and learners had full freedom to take their own time. However, it was observed that between 20 to 40 minutes, all learners completed the test.

Response	For + Statement	For – Statement
Strongly Agree	5	1
Agree	4	2
Neither Agree nor Disagree	3	3
Disagree	2	4
Strongly Disagree	1	5

Sum of the weights on all the 24 statements was the learners’ total score for that form. The scores obtained in + statement and – statements were added to derive a final score by a learner. These scores became raw data for calculation in both pretest and post test. The criteria for respondent classification was as below:

The selected Attitude Scale was given twice as ‘Pre-test’ (March 04) and ‘Post-test’(June 04). The Experimental Group studied some difficult concepts through Video Programmes and Tutor Support, while the Control Group had tutor support only. There were Six Videos on Profit and Loss, Area, Volume and Surface Area, Triangle, Pythagoras Theorem, and Circle.

Table 1

Sampling Structure for the Experiment

S. No.	Region	Total	Region wise Gender Representation			All	Remarks
				M	F
1	South	200	R	50	50	200	An effort was made to have equal representation in each target group from all four areas.
			U	50	50
2	West	200	R	50	50	200
			U	50	50
3	North	200	R	50	50	200
			U	50	50
4	East	200	R	50	50	200
			U	50	50
	Total	800		400	400	800

The investigator made a wide survey of different AIs in all four areas of both zones of Delhi. He met the coordinators of different AIs and discussed this experiment. On the basis of suitability, availability and cooperation from learners and staff from various AIs, the investigator chose 50 learners from each of the following 16 AIs as the sample for this research. Table 2 indicates the number and name of AIs taken in the sample.

Limitations of this Study

Results of Inferential Analysis

The Mathematical Attitude Scale (adopted) was administered two times to examine the significance of change in attitude in the target group. Therefore, this analysis covered only two situations as Pre Test and Post Test, for all sub groups like Rural and Urban, Male and Female, and All learners. The detailed inferential analysis is shown in the Tables given below:

Table 2

Sample Distribution in Various Regions

Region	AIs	Name of School	Type	No. of Learners
South	4701	Delhi Jain Public Sr. Sec. School, Palam, N.D.-110045	Rural	50
	4750	Hira Public School, Samalika, N.D.-110037	Rural	50
	7717	Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Lajpat Nagar, N.D.-110024	Urban	50
	7788	Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Delhi Cant., N.D.-110010	Urban	50
West	4706	Govt. Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Matiala, N.D.-110059	Rural	50
	47B3	Rajdhani Public School, Hastsal, N.D.-110059	Rural	50
	47B4	Mamta Modern Sr. Sec. School, Vikas Puri, N.D.-110018	Urban	50
	7793	New Delhi Public School, A-Block, Vikas Puri, N.D.-110018	Urban	50
North	2797	St. Jivan Public Secondary School, Mundaka, Delhi-110041	Rural	50
	7769	Govt. Boys Sr. Sec. School, Sultanpuri, N.D.-110041	Rural	50
	4711	Jain Bharti Model School, Sector-16, Rohini, Delhi-85	Urban	50
	7790	Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi-52	Urban	50
East	4708	Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Khajoori Khas, Delhi-94	Rural	50
	4718	Govt. Boys Sr. Sec. School, Khichripur, Delhi-91	Rural	50
	2793	Sanatan Dharam Sr. Sec. School, Shahdara, Delhi-32	Urban	50
	7736	Govt Boys Sr. Sec. School (1),Yamuna Vihar, Delhi-53	Urban	50

Table 3

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of rural area learners (Pre Test). N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	63.04	6.83	1.44	1.42	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	64.00	6.53	1.15	1.42	NS(.05)

Table 4

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of Urban area learners (Pre Test). N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	64.80	6.46	1.46	1.23	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	66.86	6.06	1.12	1.23	NS(.05)

Table 5

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of Male learners (Pre Test). N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	63.68	6.69	1.47	1.05	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	64.48	6.61	1.77	1.05	NS(.05)

Table 6

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of Female learners (Pre Test). N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	65.28	6.30	1.42	1.56	NS(.0 5)
2.	Experimental	66.56	6.07	1.73	1.56	NS(.0 5)

Table 7

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of All learners (Pre Test). N = 400

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	64.48	4.58	1.02	1.68	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	65.52	4.46	1.24	1.68	NS(.05)

Table 8

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of rural area learners (Post Test). N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	64.00	6.59	1.43	1.667	NS(.05)
2.	Experimental	83.20	8.26	1.43	1.667	NS(.05)

Table 9

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of Urban area learners (Post Test). N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	66.24	6.19	1.48	6.06	S(.01)
2.	Experimental	84.32	9.18	1.23	6.06	S(.01)

Table 10

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of Male learners (Post Test). N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	64.96	6.38	1.45	11.42	S(.01)
2.	Experimental	82.88	7.95	1.76	11.42	S(.01)

Table 11

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of Female learners (Post Test). N = 200

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	65.92	6.21	1.46	9.58	S(.01)
2.	Experimental	84.40	8.14	1.73	9.58	S(.01)

Table 12

Mean, SD and t Values between Control Group and Experimental Group
for ATTITUDE TEST of All learners (Post Test). N = 400

S. No.	Group	Mean	SD	Std. Error (Mean)	t value	Remark
1.	Control	65.44	4.45	1.03	13.03	S(.01)
2.	Experimental	82.64	5.78	1.23	13.03	S(.01)

Table 13

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Control Group
of rural area learners - ATTITUDE TEST. N = 200

Table 14

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental Group
of rural area learners - ATTITUDE TEST. N = 200

Table 15

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Control Group
of Urban area learners - ATTITUDE TEST. N = 200

Table 16

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental Group
of Urban area learners – ATTITUDE TEST. N = 200

Table 17

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Control Group
of Male learners - ATTITUDE TEST. N = 200

Table 18

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental Group
of Male learners - ATTITUDE TEST. N = 200

Table 19

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Control Group
of Female learners - ATTITUDE TEST. N = 200

Table 20

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental Group
of Female learners - ATTITUDE TEST. N = 200

Table 21

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Control Group
of ALL learners - ATTITUDE TEST. N = 400

Table No 22

Mean, SD and t Values between Pre Test and Post Test for Experimental Group
of ALL learners - ATTITUDE TEST. N = 400

It was found from inferential analysis of Pre Test results for the Attitude Test, that Rural and Urban, Male and Female, as well as ALL learners were almost similar for Control Groups and Experimental Groups. This indicated that Control Group and Experimental Group, everywhere for attitude scale were similar. This was verified from Tables 3 to 7. After experimentation, it was observed that in rural areas, the Experimental Group and Control Group had no significant difference. But, in Urban Areas, this difference was significant in favour of Experimental Group. Similarly, Male and Female groups had significant differences in favour of Experimental Group. Similar results were obtained for whole group also. It can be seen from tables 8 to 12. In the case of Attitude change towards Mathematics, the results indicated that Control Group (for Rural, Urban, Male, Female and All learners) had no significant difference (Tables 13, 15, 17, 19, 21). On the other hand, all sub groups of the Experimental Group had a significant change in their Attitude towards Mathematics (Tables 14, 16, 18, 20, 22). The video programme and tutor support combination was effective in changing the Attitude of Experimental Group learners. Tutor support had no effect upon the learners of Control Group. Thus, it was found that Video Programmes along with tutor support have a potential for changing Mathematical attitude among Tenth Grade NIOS learners so it was recommended for use among the target group. There was no need to recommend any other strategy based on the findings of this study this study.

Bibliography

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About the Authors

S. Rastogi ,Professor, College of Education.; Eritrea Institute of Technology, Mai Nefhi, Eritrea (Africa) : satishrastogi11@gmail.com

R. K. Arya, Jt. Director (Media) National Institute of Open Schooling, Noida, India : aryark52@hotmail.com

Enhancing Mathematical Attitude through Video Programmes Among 10th Grade Standard NIOS Students – An Experiment