SPSS Results and Interviewing

Using the fabulous SPSS statistical analysis program I was able to determine that there is no significant difference in how much my students like math based on gender or ethnic groups. However, since I was working with only nine students this is largely due to a small sample size. Nothing is statistically significant when you have as sample size of nine; that's just the reality of my research. However, when I looked at the means with my own eyes I could see that there was no difference in mean for liking math for boys vs. girls-the mean was exactly the same. In fact, neither the boys nor the girls liked math. The average was somewhere between Neutral and Disagree in response to the statement "I like math." However, looking closely at the means for the ethnic groups in my class (Caucasian, Hispanic, and Native American) I could see a big difference. In my class my Hispanic students liked math the best, then the Caucasian students, and the one Native American student did not like it at all. These results may not be statistically significant, but they were still significant to me, in the context of my teaching situation and my students' needs. I did not see equity-not all of my student's needs were being met in the area of mathematics.

Next I interviewed my students to gain more information. From the interviews, which I conducted individually and recorded and then transcribed, I learned that my students liked working in groups because they felt like they could learn from each other and from helping each other. I also learned that my students didn't like the text because it was not engaging. They felt like they were working in an abyss when they had to work on problems in the text by themselves. And finally, I learned that my students liked working on the computer because it was also interactive.

Both the analysis of the survey results and the information I gathered from interviewing my students led me to see that I needed a new type of mathematics program that included:

• More computer based work
  
• More group work
  
• Less text based work
  
• More equity-meeting the individual needs of each student

Note: The photo is a view of a section of my classroom in September 2007