Classroom learning environment and students' mathematics anxiety in Government-Aided Secondary Schools in Mukono Municipality

Abstract

Mathematics is a crucial subject that plays a vital role in our daily lives and is considered the queen of the science subjects in the school curriculum. Therefore, students need to excel in mathematics to ensure successful secondary school completion, employment, and future career development. The government of Uganda through the MoES introduced Uganda’s national mathematics Programme which aimed at improving mathematics education through teacher training, curriculum development, and resource provision. Despite the efforts to improve mathematics education in Uganda, Students continue to exhibit high levels of mathematics anxiety while studying mathematics, and the existing studies have failed to show how mathematics anxiety is connected to the classroom learning environment. The study aims to establish the relationship between the classroom learning environment and Students’ mathematics anxiety in government-aided secondary schools in Mukono Municipality. The study intended to determine the relationship between the classroom learning environment in the form of the teaching and learning process, the teachers’ use of assessment and the organization of the learning environment, and the levels of the student’s mathematics anxiety in the government-aided secondary school of Mukono municipality. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design. The research targeted 2055 from two students with a sample of 327 students. The researcher used a questionnaire as the major source of data collection. The study conducted a simple linear regression analysis to establish how the independent variables predict the dependent variable. The study revealed that the classroom learning environment in the form of the teaching and learning process (regression coefficient of 0.157 And p-value of 0.011), the classroom learning environment in the form of the teachers' use of assessment (regression coefficient of - 0.086 And p-value of 0.154), and the classroom learning environment in the form of the organization of the learning environment (regression coefficient of 0.136 And p-value of 0.018) were related to the mathematics anxiety in government-aided secondary schools of Mukono municipality. The study concluded that the classroom learning environment in the form of the teaching and learning process and the organization of the learning environment were significantly related to mathematics anxiety whereas the classroom learning environment in the form of the teachers' use of assessment had an insignificant relationship with the mathematics anxiety in the government aided secondary schools of Mukono Municipality. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education should continuously monitor the teaching and learning process through the DEOs, ensure the continued use of formative assessments to enable students to get timely feedback from the teachers to better themselves, and also ensure that teachers create a positive classroom learning environment through use of positive reinforcements and supporting and inclusive environment to help lessen on the mathematics anxiety.