Elevers känsla av sammanhang i matematikämnet på högstadiet

: en studie om intensivundervisningens effekter

Abstract

According to the Swedish National Agency for Education’s statistics, mathematics is the core subject in which the Swedish students perform the lowest. This study examines if interventions in mathematics can help five students in year seven, which experience mathematic difficulties, feel a sense of coherence (SOC) within the subject as per Antonovsky’s theory. According to Antonovsky SOC is created if the concepts of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness are fulfilled. Comprehensibility means that the student’s knowledge of the subject is good, if the manageability is high the student is confident in their abilities, and meaningful means that the student sees the benefit of mathematics. The intervention was conducted over six weeks, with three half-hour long lessons per week where the students participated in pairs. Prior to the intervention the students’ levels of knowledge and their perception of mathematics were examined through a survey based on Magne’s diagnosis and an interview, after the intervention they were followed up with a new diagnosis and interview. The initial and the final results were compared and analysed based on comprehensibility, which was shown in the result of the survey and the diagnosis, manageability and meaningfulness, which were analysed based on the interviews. With the help of the new learning environment, the continuous communication with positive feedback and the concrete material, which is beneficial to the teaching, two of the concepts of SOC are clearly strengthened. The result of the study shows this when it comes to manageability and meaningfulness for all the participating students, the data collected concerning the concept of comprehensibility was too difficult to interpret to give a distinct result. A lengthier effort is advocated to give the students a better opportunity to consolidate the new knowledge, this in particularly when it comes to students with large gaps in knowledge.