Abstract:

The present study investigated the effects of using real life linear function tasks with supplementary information about the subject on math skills and self-reported math and function interest and utility. There were two aims of the study: first, to find if the intervention improves achievement and second, to find if the pilot intervention helps to improve interest and utility assessments. The participants in the study were Estonian Grade seven students (N = 114, 43% male, 57% female) who were either in the experimental (N = 94) or the control group (N = 20) and took part in the study between March and May during the 2022/2023 school year. All students in the study completed pre- and post-intervention testing, which included questionnaires about interest and utility based on expectancy-value theory. Students in the experimental group were given at least three in class and two homework assignments instead of some of the textbook tasks about linear functions. The results showed that there were no overall differences in students’ test scores after the intervention, however there was a significant difference in the accuracy of solving a real life linear function task with the students in the experimental condition achieving higher results. In addition, it was found that there was a significant difference for the experimental group in math utility assessments before and after intervention and a significant difference for the control group in function interest. Students also tended to rate utility higher than interest for math and functions both pre- and post-intervention. In conclusion, the current study showed that the pilot intervention was successful in helping students better complete real life linear function tasks and it helped to increase students’ assessments of the usefulness of math. The study also revealed that, in addition to the variance between utility and interest assessments, there are also differences in the assessments of math and functions, indicating that specific math topics may be more or less interesting to students than math overall and that the students may find those topics also more or less useful for their goals in life.

Keywords:

math skills, linear functions, pilot intervention, math interest, math utility.