Philippine Normal University

The National Center for Teacher Education

Taft Avenue, Manila

In partial fulfillment for Advanced Statistics

Math Self-Concept and the Seating Preferences of High School

Students in Relation to their Math Performances

Antonio, Maria Carolina P.

Bautista, Leahcim B.

Delarmente, JP Lester B.

Quianzon, Ricsheil Anne C.

and

Suarez, Guiller Jobert H.

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

SELF-CONCEPT IS A MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCT that refers to

a person's perception of self in terms of both academic and

nonacademic aspects (Bong & Clark, 1999; Byrne, 1984; Byrne &

Worth Gavin, 1996; Shavelson & Bolus, 1982; Shavelson, Hubner, &

Stanton, 1976). Academic self-concept refers to a person's

"perception of self with respect to achievement in school"

(Reyes, 1984, p. 559). In particular, a person's mathematical

self-concept refers to the perception or belief in his or her

ability to do well in mathematics or confidence in learning

mathematics (Reyes). This study focuses on the effects of

student’s self concept about math and seating arrangement changes

on perception of ability and on grades within their math-

performance.

Mathematics self-concept, which is broadly defined as a

persons’ self-related perceptions in the area of mathematics that

are formed through experience with others and one’s own

interpretations of their environment, is reciprocally related to

achievement in mathematics and positively related to course

choice in mathematics domains during upper-secondary education.

Another key factor for students’ learning is students’ interest

in mathematics, which is shown to be related to achievement goals

in mathematics classes and mathematics-related career choices.

Students who are interested in mathematics enjoy engaging in

math, tend to reengage in mathematical contents, and view

mathematics as important for their individual development. Both

self-concept and interest in mathematics are influenced by

educational settings and teaching styles. Research suggests that

particular aspects of instructional quality in mathematics

classrooms such as classroom management, classroom climate, and

cognitive activation relate to students’ attitudes and emotions

concerning mathematics (PISA).

Everyone has experienced the discomfort of being forced into

a new situation. Students in a classroom often experience an

unexpected change in seating.

Seating can affect level of interaction available between

teacher and student. Research done by Marx, Fuhrer, and Hartig

(1999) found that in semi-circle formation students' social

interaction improved, and they asked more questions than in row

and column arrangement. It would seem, then, that the semi-circle

positions itself might be a positive format for sharing

instructional insights. They found that students, who ask

questions, are engaged and further, learn more.

Most research on classroom seating has been focused on how

self concept or personality and seating are correlated. Seats are

not chosen at random, but by personal variables. Rebeta, Brooks,

O'Brien, and Hunter (1993) found that seating choice is causally

related to students' personality traits. They found that seating

choice was caused by personality. When working with undergraduate

students they determined that as students sit further away from

the action-zone, their grades and participation declined, and

absenteeism increased. Their action-zone was defined as the

center of the classroom and the front rows. Rebeta et al. (1993)

argue that students are creating a self fulfilling prophesy, by

their seating choices. This prophesy is created because of how

the students feel they are going to do that they chose to sit in

the action-zone, where teachers are likely to call on them, or

elsewhere where they might get less personal attention. The

students who feel more capable sit in a position that requires

them to achieve, because it is what they expect of themselves.

Becker, Sommer, Bee, and Oxley (1973) found that there was a

connection between the type of student a person was and where

they choose to sit in a classroom.

This study aims to study if (a) there is a significant

difference between the seating preferences among various levels

of high school students; (b) there is at least one significant

relationship between the scales in math self concept and math

performance of high school students; (c) there is at least one

significant relationship between the scale in math self concept

and the seating preferences of the high school students; and (d)

there is at least significant relationship between the seating

preferences and math performance of high school students.

Theoretical Framework

One's self-concept (also called self-construction, self-

identity, or self-perspective) is a collection of beliefs about

oneself that includes elements such as academic performance,

gender roles and sexuality, and racial identity. Generally, self-

concept embodies the answer to "Who am I?". Carl Rogers (1902-

1987) was a humanistic psychologist who agreed with the main

assumptions of Abraham Maslow, but added that for a person to

"grow", they need an environment that provides them with

genuineness (openness and self-disclosure), acceptance (being

seen with unconditional positive regard), and empathy (being

listened to and understood).

Without these, relationships and healthy personalities will not

develop as they should, much like a tree will not grow without

sunlight and water.

Rogers believed that every person can achieve their goals, wishes

and desires in life. When, or rather if they did so, self

actualization took place. This was one of Carl Rogers most

important contributions to psychology and for a person to reach

their potential a number of factors must be satisfied.

.Baumeister (1999) provides the following self concept

definition: "the individual's belief about himself or herself,

including the person's attributes and who and what the self is".

Therefore math self-concept is the person’s thinking of

himself/herself about Mathematics.

Self Concept is an important term for both social psychology and

humanism. Lewis (1990) suggests that development of a concept of

self has two aspects: -

(1) The Existential Self

This is “the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-concept;

the sense of being separate and distinct from others and the

awareness of the constancy of the self”(Bee 1992).

The child realizes that they exist as a separate entity from

others and that they continue to exist over time and space.

According to Lewis awareness of the existential self begins as

young as two to three months old and arises in part due to the

relation the child has with the world. For example, the child

smiles and someone smiles back, or the child touches a mobile and

sees it move.

(2) The Categorical Self

Having realized that he or she exists as a separate experiencing

being, the child next becomes aware that he or she is also an

object in the world. Just as other objects including people have

properties that can be experienced (big, small, red, smooth and

so on) so the child is becoming aware of him or herself as an

object which can be experienced and which has properties. The

self too can be put into categories such as age, gender, size or

skill. Two of the first categories to be applied are age (“I am

3”) and gender (“I am a girl”).

In early childhood, the categories children apply to themselves

are very concrete (e.g. hair color, height and favorite things).

Later, self-description also begins to include reference to

internal psychological traits, comparative evaluations and to how

others see them.

Statement of the Problem

The study focused on the Effects of Self-Concept and Seating

Preferences on Math Performances of Selected High School Students

of Bagong Barrio National High School.

Specifically, it aims to answer the following questions:

1) Is there any significant difference between the seating

preferences among various level high school students?

2) Is there a significant relationship between the scales in

Math Self-Concept and math performances of high school students?

3) Is there at least one significant relationship between

the seating preferences in mathematics class and the scales in

Math Self-Concept of high school students?

4) Is there at least one significant relationship between

seating preferences in mathematics class and math performances of

high school students?

Research Hypothesis

The hypothesis will be raised in the study and will be

tested at 0.05 level of significance.

Ho:

There is no significant difference between the

seating preferences of various levels of high

school students;

There is no significant relationship between the

scales in Math Self-Concept and math performances

of high school students;

There is a significant relationship between

seating preferences in mathematics class and

scales in Math Self-Concept of high school

students; and,

There is a significant relationship between

seating preferences in mathematics class and math

performances of high school students.

Ha:

There is no significant difference between the

seating preferences of various levels of high

school students;

There is no significant relationship between the

scales in Math Self-Concept and math performances

of high school students;

There is a significant relationship between

seating preferences in mathematics class and

scales in Math Self-Concept of high school

students; and,

There is a significant relationship between

seating preferences in mathematics class and math

performances of high school students.

Significance of the Study

People may have the same seat place but have different self-

concepts and different grades on their performance. According to

Rebeta, Brooks, O'Brien, and Hunter (1993), found that seating

choice is causally related to students' personality traits.

In line with this, Becker, Sommer, Bee, and Oxley (1973)

found that there was a connection between the type of student a

person was and where they choose to sit in a classroom.

1. For Learners

Through this research, the students will be aware

of their self-concept in mathematics subject that

might affect their math performances. They will be

informed as well, about the effect of their

preference seat in Mathematics.

2. For Teachers

If the researchers will be able to justify that

the seating preferences of students affect their

math performances, then, it can help them to make

some adjustments for those students having

inadequacy in his/her subject.

3. For Parents

The research can be an effective tool in

persuading parents to motivate and encourage their

child toward Mathematics subject, as long as the

researchers justify the relationship of their math

self-concept and math performances.

Scope and Delimitation

This study aims to study if there is a significant

difference between the levels of math self concept and the

seating preferences of the high school students, is there a

significant difference between the levels of math self concept

and math performances of high school students and lastly, if

there is a significant difference between the seating preferences

and math performances of high school students. The survey held

was only given to Bagong Barrio National High School students, on

all year levels; and was given on March 12, 2014. We have chosen

25 respondents per each year level. The information that they are

required to indicate there were their age, gender, year level,

and grade in math for 1st to 3rd quarter. These grades were

chosen to be a variable in the study since it is a general

subject, and all of the high school students were taking math.

The researchers considered working on this study to find out

if there’s really an effect in mathematics performances of high

school students through the measurements of their math self-

concepts as well as their math performances.

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents existing research and studies about

self-concept, seating preference, and mathematical performance of

students. This chapter has been arranged and organized first by

the study of self-concept, then the seating preference, and last

is the mathematical performance of students.

Self- concept

Self-concept is the way in which you think about yourself

and the way in which you see yourself as a person. It is

considered to comprise various dimensions, areas or facets, some

of which are more related to certain personality aspects such as

physical, social and emotional, while others appear to be more

liked to academic achievement. Self-concept “is the set of perceptions or

reference points that the subject has about himself; (…) the set of characteristics,

attributes, qualities and deficiencies, capacities and limits, values and relationships that

the subject knows to be descriptive of himself and which he perceives as data

concerning his identity” (Hamachek, 1981, quoted by Machargo, 1991:24).

It is the perception that each one has about himself, formed from experiences and

relationships with the environment, where significant people play an important role

(Shavelson, Hubner and Stanton). This is important especially to

students in order for them to have their self-confidence in

everything they do especially their performances in Mathematics.

The importance of self-concept stems from its notable

contribution to personality formation. Self-esteem has to do with

social competence, since it influence how the person feels, how

he or she thinks, learns, values himself or herself, relates to

others, and ultimately, how he or she behaves (Clark, Clemes&

Bean, 2000)

Self-concept constitutes a psychological dimension; ir is

multidimensional it has a hierarchical organization; it is

stable, but as we go lower on the hierarchy, self-concept becomes

more specific and more susceptible to change; the different

facetsof self-concept become more differentiated among themselves

with age and experience; self-concept includes both descriptive

as well as evaluative aspects; self-concept can be differentiated

from other constructs which it is related to, such as academic

performance.

Seating Preference

In every school, there are teachers who choose to have their

different seating arrangements. This has been part of their

strategies in monitoring and observing their learners ability

towards their school performances.

Classroom seating has been focused on how personality and

seating are correlated. Rebeta, Brooks, O’Brien, and Hunter

(1993) found that seating choice is causally related to students’

personality traits. They found that seating choice was caused by

personality. Students sit further away from the action-zone,

their grades and participation declined, and absenteeism. This

prophecy is created because of how the students feel they are

going to do that they chose to sit in the action-zone, where

teachers are likely to call on them or elsewhere where they might

get less personal attention. Becker, Sommer, Bee, and Oxley

(1973) found that there was a connection between the type of

student a person was and where they choose to sit in a classroom.

– Holly Heindselman, RhemieMentac, and Kristina Wesler

Becker, Sommer, Bee, and Oxley (1973) found that there was

aconnection between the type of student a person was and where

they choose to sit in a classroom. They also noticed a

significant difference in participation based on the number of

studentsinvolved in the class. Burda (1996) measured the

motivation for achievement students felt at thebeginning of the

semester and at the end, and found that students who were more

motivatedtended to sit in the front row of the classroom.

Mathematical Performances

Not all students are in joy of mathematical lessons. There

are students who do not actively participate in math lessons

while they take it as challenge. The PISA has constructed a

survey involving of the mathematical performances of students

both across and within countries. The results have shown that in

some countries, their fifteen year old students’ performance

lagged considering that of other countries. In 2000 and 2003,

average mathematics performance increased in one of the two

content areas measured in surveys. PISA has considered in their

survey the mathematical problems of the students based in some

real-world context, where the students are required to identify

features of the problem situation that might be amenable to

mathematical investigation, and to activate the relevant

mathematical competencies to solve the problem.

Related Studies

In this study, the researchers are to find if the

mathematical self-concept of the high school students affect

their preferred seat inside the classroom. The results showed

that self-concept moderately correlated with performance in

Mathematics. Self-concept is a strong facilitator of academic

achievement and that a positive or negative change in self-

concept tends to produce a commensurate change in academic

achievement or performance (Yara, 2012: Valentine, Dubois &

Cooper, 2004: Hamachek, 1995). There is another study in Nigeria

that there students with high and positive self-concept perform

satisfactorily in Mathematics. The correlation between self-

concept and performance in Mathematics in the study is an

indication that there is a relation to the students’ self-concept

and their performance in Mathematics.

Authors Gonzales-Pienda, Nunez, Alvarez, Roces (2000)

analyzed different types of relationships between self-concept

and academic performance. There are no conclusive studies that

clearly identify the direction of the link which joins these two

variables (self-concept and performance).

Academic experience of success or failure significantly

affect the pupils self-concept and self-image more than vice

versa, this being explained by the role of evaluation by

significant others or by the theory of social comparison (Tajfel&

Turner)

The seat location on examgrades has no effect on their

classroom, (Kalinowski and Mark Taper, The effect of Seat

Location of Exam Grades).It is said that their study was made a

contrast on the study of PerkinandWiemann (2005) in which they

said that, “There are at least three general categories of explanations why seat

location might have affected gradeson Physics but not on Biology”. The general

categories are: the large lecture halls, the motivation of the

student to learn and lastly is the course design and content. The

main implication of Kalinowski and Mark Taper’s results is that

further work is needed to determine specifically how seat

location affects learning.

Definition of Terms

The researchers listed down terminologies and their

definition according to how they are used in the study:

Math Self-Concept

-an idea of an individual as to what he or she is, does

and feels towards mathematics or it is a perception of

one’s own mathematical ability (Garlito, 2005). In this

study, Math Self-Concept will be measured using Fabian

Mante’s Math Self-Concept Scale and was used in the

Laristan, 2011’s research.

Math Performance

-is the average of the Mathematics grades from 1st to

3rd grading of high school students of the Bagong

Barrio National High School.

Seating Preferences

-is the choice or selected seat of the high school

students in Mathematics class. The students of

Bagong Barrio will be selecting from three (3)

categories; (Front row, Middle row, and Last row)

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this study is to examine on the effects of

student’s math self concept and seating arrangement changes on

perception of ability and grades within their math performance.

The four purposes of this chapter are to (1) describe the

research methodology of this study, (2) explain the sample

selection, (3) describe the procedure used in designing the

instrument and collecting the data, and (4) provide an

explanation of the statistical procedures used to analyze the

data.

Research Design

A descriptive correlation research methodology was used for

this study. A descriptive correlation method is one that helps to

determine if two or more variables are associated with each other

by explaining their relationship but not necessarily implying

that this relationship is also a cause. Almost similarly is a

descriptive correlational design, which uses existing mutual

relationships between data to describe it but does not endeavor

to establish whether these are statistically significant

correlations. In order for the researchers to be able to see the

correlation of the variables in the study a survey was

administered to a selected sample from a specific population

identified by the administration of Bagong Barrio National High

School. The term ‘survey’ is commonly applied to a research

methodology designed to collect data from a specific population,

or a sample from that population, and typically utilizes a

questionnaire or an interview as the survey instrument (Robson,

2002).

Surveys are used to obtain data from individuals about

themselves or about larger social institutions (school). Sample

surveys are an important tool for collecting and analyzing

information from selected individuals. They are widely accepted

as a key tool for conducting and applying basic social science

research methodology (Rossi, Wright, and Anderson, 1983).

Filipinos is familiar with the use of surveys to assess

issues or project trends. For example, the college students with

different courses use survey to complete their research or

thesis. Some organizations like SWS undergo for us Filipinos on

how satisfied are we regard to our previous government. Selected

Filipino television viewers participate in the surveys regarding

with the programs in the television for the purpose of

establishing advertising rates.

According to some statisticians there are advantages of

using surveys to conduct a research and the reasons are, it can

represent large number of population and it is less costly. It

can also be gathered easily and in a short period of time.

For these reasons, the researchers chose a descriptive

correlation research methodology and designed a questionnaire

survey instrument to assess the perceptions of selected students

regarding to their math self concept as well as their seating

arrangement affecting their performance in Mathematics.

Sample

For this study, the researchers picked the respondents from

Barrio National High School through the fish bowl technique. The

respondents were identified by the school administration. The

methodology for this study was a simple random sample of students

in high school level currently enrolled in the said school.

In Simple random sampling most commonly used method is the

lottery or Fish Bowl technique. In using the lottery method,

there is a need for a complete listing of the members of the

population. The names or codes of all members are written on

pieces of paper cards and placed in a container. The researcher

draws the desired number of sample from the container. The

process is relatively easy for small population but relatively

difficult and time consuming for a large population.

So the first thing that the researchers did is list all the

sections from first year to fourth year level of the school and

separates it in 4 containers per year level. After that, the

researchers will pick one first year section in the container

with first year sections and as well as to the other year level.

Then the researchers pick the sections per year level. They will

list all the names included in that sections and from there we

will pick 25 students per sections to conduct are survey. All in

all the researchers have 100 respondents.

Simple random sampling is the basic sampling technique that

the researchers will do where they will select a group of

subjects (a sample) from a larger group (population). For this

study the 100 students of the Bagong Barrio National High School

that were the sample for study. Each respondent is chosen

entirely by chance and each member of the population has an equal

chance of being included in the sample. Every possible sample of

a given size has the same chance of selection; i.e. each member

of the population is equally likely to be chosen at any stage in

the sampling process.

An unbiased random selection of individuals is important so

that if a large number of samples were drawn, the average sample

would accurately represent the population. However, this does not

guarantee that a particular sample is a perfect representation of

the population. Simple random sampling merely allows one to draw

externally valid conclusions about the entire population based on

the sample.

Conceptually, simple random sampling is the simplest of the

probability sampling techniques. It requires a complete sampling

frame, which may not be available or feasible to construct for

large populations. Even if a complete frame is available, more

efficient approaches may be possible if other useful information

is available about the units in the population.

Advantages are that it is free of classification error, and

it requires minimum advance knowledge of the population other

than the frame. Its simplicity also makes it relatively easy to

interpret data collected in this manner. For these reasons,

simple random sampling best suits situations where not much

information is available about the population and data collection

can be efficiently conducted on randomly distributed items, or

where the cost of sampling is small enough to make efficiency

less important than simplicity.

Instrumentation

The survey used in this study addressed four purposes. The

first purpose is to examine how the student’s self concept about

Mathematics affects their performance in math. Second purpose to

know how seating arrangement affect their grade in mathematics.

Third is to know if there is a significant difference between the

seating preferences of various levels of high school students and

lastly to know if there is a significant relationship between the

seating preferences and Math self-concept.

The survey questions were divided into three parts. The

first part is eight items about Math self concept in which the

researchers got from Fabian Mante’s self-concept scale to be able

to know the students self-concept about Mathematics and will

serve as an interval variable and to be able to know its

relationship to other variables namely, students seating

preferences and their math performance in the survey form. Next

part is about their Math performance during the first three

quarters of the school year in which it will serve as an interval

variable to know the relationship between the students’ math

self-concept and their seating preferences and lastly is the

preferred seating arrangement of the respondent that will serve

as a nominal variable.

Reliability and validity are important aspects of

questionnaire design. According to Suskie (1996), a perfectly

reliable questionnaire elicits consistent responses. Although it

is difficult to develop, it is reasonable to design a

questionnaire that approaches a consistent level of response.

The questionnaire was also composed of questions about the

respondents namely their name, age, gender and their year level.

The questionnaire was also reviewed and approved by Professor

Anthony Reymond Quan.

Data Collection Procedure

After doing the fish bowl technique the questionnaires

accompanied by a cover letter were given on March 10, 2014 by the

researchers to each respondent in Barrio National High School

accompanied in this study. Recipients were requested to complete

the questionnaire and to return it to the researchers as soon as

possible.

Data of Analysis Procedure

The data analysis consisted of examining the surveys for

correctness and completeness of the questionnaires given.

The respondents were asked to answer the instrument prepared

by the researchers. The instrument asked information about

gender, age and year level. The first part of the instrument asks

about their self concept about Math. Then the second part is

about their preferred seating arrangement in a math class. Lastly

is the question about their grade they got in math during the

first to third quarters of the school year.

The research questions of this study are the following:

Is there a significant difference between the

seating preferences of various levels of high

school students?

Is there a significant relationship between the

scales in Math Self-Concept and math performances

of high school students?

Is there a significant relationship between

seating preferences in mathematics class and

scales in Math Self-Concept of high school

students?

Is there a significant relationship between

seating preferences in mathematics class and math

performances of high school students?

In order for the researchers to have accurate results and

answer the research questions, the researchers used different

statistical formulas:

1. Analysis Of Variance

Analysis of variance is a statistical procedure

designed to analyze the differences between the means

of three or more samples. Its purpose is to establish

whether the variation between groups is likely to be a

function of chance or not.

ANOVA is used to compare the means of the respondents

in each seat preferences category (front row, middle

row and last row) using their math performances.

2. Chi square

Chi square is any statistical hypothesis test in which

the sampling distribution of the test statistic is

a chi-squared distribution when the null hypothesis is

true.

It is use in the research to determine the significant

difference between the various levels of high school

students and their seat preferences.

3. Mean

Mean is a measure of central tendency of the given

data.

The researchers used the mean to know the average grade

of each respondents and the grand grade average of all

the respondents.

4. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient

A measure of the strength and direction of association

that exists between two variables measured on at least

an interval scale.

The researchers use to correlate the grades of the

respondents and their scales in Math Self-concept.

CHAPTER 4

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter focuses on the presentation, analysis, and

interpretation of the data gathered by the researchers.

Table 1

Frequency Table for the Seat Preferences of High School Students

Seat

Preferen

ce

First

Year

Second

Year

Third

Year

Fourth

Year

Total Percenta

ge

Front

Row

9 12 10 11 42 42%

Middle

Row

11 10 9 14 44 44%

Last Row 5 3 6 0 14 14%

In this table, it indicates that 44% of the high school students

preferred to sit in the middle row; 42% of the high school

students preferred in front row; and only 14% of the respondents

chose to sit in the last row.

Table 2

Math Self-Concept Scale (Fabian Mante, 2005)

Scores Description Frequency Percentage

2.0- below Negative 3 3%

2.1- above Positive 97 97%

The table above indicates that most of the students in Bagong

Barrio National High School have positive self-concept in

mathematics subject.

Table 3

Difference between Seat Preferences among Various Levels of

Students

Statistics Used Decision Verbal

Interpretation

X2 = 7.749 Accept Ho Not Significant

The computed Chi-square determines the difference between the

seat preferences among various levels of high school students.

There is no significant difference between the two variables. It

shows that year level did not influence nor affect the seat

preferences of the students.

Table 4

Relationship between Math Self-Concept and Math Performance

Statistics Used Decision Verbal

Interpretation

r = 0.302 Reject Ho Strong Positive

Correlation;

Significant

The computed Pearson Product-Moment coefficient determines the

relationship between the students’ performance and self-concept.

There is a positive high correlation between the students self

concept and performance in Mathematics. The higher their self

concept the higher possibility they will perform better in

Mathematics. And it indicates a direct relationship between the

two variables.

Since the computed R value of 0.302 exceeds the critical value of

0.197, the null hypothesis is rejected.

Table 5

Relationship between Seat Preferences and Math Performances

Sum of

Squares

Df Mean

Squares

F Verbal

Interpreta

tion

Between

Groups

85.818 2 42.491 1.541 Not

Significan

t

Within

Groups

2701.745 97 27.853

Total 2787.563 99

Since the computed F value of 1.541 did not exceed the critical

value of 3.1, the null hypothesis is accepted. Therefore there is

no significant relationship between seat preferences and Math

performances of high school students.

Table 6

Tukeys HSD Analysis for the Relationship between Math Performance

and Seat Preference

Seating Preference N Subset for Alpha =

0.05

1

Last 14 82.4986

Middle 44 82.5686

Front 42 84.4281

Verbal

Interpretation

Not Significant 0.397

Only 39.7 % of the math performance is accounted by the seat

preferences of the students. Therefore there is no significant

relationship between seat preferences and Math performances of

high school students.

Table 7

Relationship between Math Self-Concept and Seat Preferences

Sum of

Squares

Df Mean

Squares

F Verbal

Interpreta

tion

Between

Groups

0.469 2 0.234 0.734 Not

Significan

t

Within

Groups

30.962 97 0.319

Total 31.430 99

Since the computed F value of 0.734 did not exceed the critical

value of 3.1, the null hypothesis is accepted. Therefore there is

no significant relationship between seat preferences and Math

self-concept of high school students.

Table 8

Tukeys HSD Analysis for the Relationship between Math Self-

Concept and Seat Preference

Seating Preference N Subset for Alpha =

0.05

1

Last 14 3.0057

Middle 44 2.8309

Front 42 2.7962

Verbal

Interpretation

Not Significant 0.386

Only 38.6 % of the math performance is accounted by the seat

preferences of the students. Therefore there is no significant

relationship between seat preferences and Math self-concept of

high school students.

CHAPTER 5

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

Summary of Findings

The researchers found out that there is no significant

difference between seating preferences among various levels of

high school students since the computed value which is 7.749 that

is less than the critical value that is 12.795

There is a positive high correlation between the students’

Math self-concept and math performance. The higher the self-

concept in Mathematics the higher the probability they perform

better in Mathematics or vice versa. This indicates the

relationship between the two variables. The researchers proved

that there is a significant relationship between the two since

the computed value is 0. 306 which is greater than the critical

value that is 0.197.

In order to improve the students’ academic performance in

school they tend to think that their seating preference is one of

the keys to it. Unfortunately in this study the researchers

proved that there is no at least one significant relationship

between the seating preferences of the students and their math

performance in their respective schools.

The researcher also proved that seat preference of the

students does not affect their personality or their self-concept

in Mathematics

Conclusions

The researchers therefore conclude that based from the

findings of the study the following conclusions were drawn:

1. There is no significant difference between references among

various levels of high school students.

2. There is a strong significant relationship between Math

performance and Math self concept of High school students.

3. There is no at least one significant relationship between

the seating preferences and Math performance of high school

students.

4. There is no at least one significant relationship between

seating preference and Math Self-Concept of high school

students.

Recommendations

Based on the conclusion drawn the following were recommended

by the researchers:

1. The students should know their Math self – concept in order

to improve their Math performance.

2. The students can choose their seating preferences freely

because it doesn’t affect their grades based on the results

of the study.

3. Parents should encourage their child to know their Math self

concept in order to improve their Math performance in

school.

Bibliography

Heindselman, Mentac and Wesler (2007).The Effect of Classroom Seating

Arrangement on Learning Ability. Hanover College

Ayodele, Oluwatayo James (2011).Self-concept and Performance of Secondary

School Students in Mathematics. University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.

Wilkins, Jesse L. M. Mathematics and Science Self-Concept: An International

Investigation. The Journal of Experimental Education.(2004)

Denton, Paul. (1992). Seating Arrangements for Better Classroom

Management.Adventist Education.

Francisco Javier Peralta Sanchez and Maria Dolores Sanchez Roda

(2005).Relationships between self-concept and academic achievement in

primary students. Almeria, Spain.

Ester B. Ogena, Ruby D. Lana and Randolf S. Sasota

(2008).Performance of Philippine High Schools with Special Curriculum in the

2008 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS- Advanced).

Department of Science and Technology.

Madden, Slavin and Simons (1999). Effects on Student Mathematics

Performance.Johns Hopkins University

Wang, Du and Liu (2009).Case Study on Improving High School Students with

Learning Difficulties in Mathematics.Journal of Mathematics Education.

Conceptual Framework

Past Experiences in Math

Schemas in Math

Present Situation in Math

View for the futuresituations attitude inMath

Math Self - Concept

Math Performance Seat Preferences in Mathematics

Class