SEX-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN THE

ACQUISITION OF THE VAN HIELE LEVELS

AND MOTIVATION IN LEARNING
GEOMETRY
Erdogan Halat
Afyon Kocatepe Univeriti Turkey
Chair : Nurulhuda Bt Zamhury
Ko- Chair : Nurul Nadiah Shakira

1. To examine the acquisition of 6th-grade

students engaged in instruction using van Hiele
theory based mathematics curricula.
2. To find out students reasoning stages and a
questionnaire

3. To detect students motivation in regards to

the instruction by their gender.

WHICH THEORY IS THE

STUDY BASED ON?

The Van Hiele Theory

Was structured by Pierre van Hiele and Dina

Van Hiele Geldof (1957-1986)
1.

Level-I (visualization)

5
levels of reasoning in
geometry

Level II (Analysis)
Level III ( Ordering)
Level IV ( Deduction)

Level V (Rigor)

FENNEMA &CARPENTER 1981

Indicated at 9 years and 13 years, there was a

consistent of lower averages for females

No statistically significant sex related differences.

In the gender gap among gifted boys and girls

Boys consider mathematics to be more useful

Girls more depends to teachers as mathematics

learner .

GROSSMAN &GROSSMAN 1994

Boys scored better than gilrs ; On mathematics

achievement tests

NICHOLLS, COBB, WOOD &YACKEL

Boys more success because they more depends
to their superior ability
Girls depended on collaboration and attempt to
understand

ARMSTRONG -1981
13 years old girls better performed than
boys
No difference sexes at the 6th grade
level
Nearly equal to boys at 13 years old
13 year Girls began a high school
mathematics program with the same
skills as boys.

Information
5 phases
proposed that
movement to
one level to
one level

Bound orientation
Explication

Free orientation
Integration

HOW WAS THE STUDY DONE?

The

total number of students involved in the

study was 150
66 boys and 84 girls.
The participants were 6th grade students
enrolled in 6 mathematics classes at a public
middle school in north Florida USA

METHODS

Divided the participants into two group based on the

gender

Chose the experimental research method

pre test and post test were given to the participant before
and after.

Start with giving them a geometry test called the van

hiele (vhgt) geometry test and a questionnaire.

The course interest survey used as a pre test and post test
(CIS)

(VGHT) consist 25 multiple choice

geometry question for 35 minutes

The

course interest ;consists 34

statements have categorized in 4 parts

ATTENTION

RELEVANCE

CONFIDENCE

SATISFACTION

TEST SCORING GUIDE

(i) VHGT
POINT
1
2
4
8
16

ITEMS / LEVELS
1-5 (LEVEL I)
6-10 (LEVEL II)
11-15 (LEVEL III)
16-20 (LEVEL IV)
21-25 (LEVEL V)

(ii) CIS: THE COURSE INTEREST

SURVEY

Response scale range from 1 to 5 and on the 34 item survey

Minimum score is 34, maximum is 170 with midpoint 102

Alternative method , KELLER 1999 - FIND

(a) average sore for each subscale

(b) total scale using sums

THE RESULT :

RESULTS

RESULTS

RESULTS

RESULTS

FINDINGS
Burger&Shaughnessy 1986, Crowley 1987 & Fuys 1988
1 . None on the 6th grade progressed beyond level II (analysis)
2. Most students were level 0 (pre-recognition) and level I (visualization)
Lappan, Reys, Bernes 1998 Armstrong 1981 , fennema&Sherman
There was no difference in the achievement and in terms of motivation
between girls and boys level in the skill of geometry applications.

May achieve equity in mathematics classroom.

FINDINGS

stating that adolescence males showed greater performance than females

Parental support, stereotyping mathematics, as a male domain and

perception of difficulty had significantly negative direct effects on the
achievement for females.

teachers more influence/, motivation in learning mathematics then

parents

the more systematically structured and instruction more helpful to

overcome their difficulties and to increase their understanding

-interventions could achieve equity in learning mathematics

IMPLICATION
Teacher should more influence on student
motivation and always do interventions
2. schools/Mathematics Department should
run a lot of activity related with learning
geometry.
Teachers should teach geometry by this
theory to help girls to maintain their
confident in learning geometry
1

IMPLICATIONS
Females

mathematics performance insufficient ,but they

can reach the achievement of males.

The

teachers can stating carefully structured instructional

design

Teachers

can be prepared with a clear and meaningful task

activities to great impact on student achievement and
motivation

CONCLUTIONS
A

STUDENTS CAN PERFORM BETTER DEPENDS ON AREA

THIS

STUDY CAN NOT BE APPLIED TO ALL GEOMETRY

TOPICS

STUDENTS NEEDED MORE TIME TO THINK

ABOUT THE SUBJECT MATTER.

WORK ON THE TASK ASSIGNED

SHARE THEIR IDEAS

QUESTION AND ANSWER

SESSIONS

QUESTION 1
What are the objective of this study?

To examine sex related differences In the

acquisition of the Van Hiele levels

To examine motivation of sixth grade students

engaged in learning geometry using Van Hiele
Theory

QUESTION 2
What kind of test were used to analyze the
quantitative data?

Paired samples t-test

Independent sample t-test

ANCOVA with a=0.05

QUESTION 3
What might be the reasons behind students low
achievement and negative attitude towards
mathematics course.

There might be many internal & external factors such as :

Feeling valued

Perception of cognitive competence

Perception of parental support

Environment

Task difficulty

Gender

Curriculum

QUESTION 4
Whose statement that said that some girls scoring lower
than boys on Mathematics achievement test are not less
skilled mathematicians.
(a) Nicholls, Cobb, Wood & Yackel (1989)
(b) Grossman & Grossman (1994)
(c) Fennema & Sherman (1978)
(d) Ethington (1992)

Grossman & Grossman (1994) Girls score lower because they

become anxious when they take such test and because test
items are biased against girls.

Nicholls, Cobb, Wood & Yackel (1989) Boys believed that

their success depended on their superior ability, whereas girls
depended on collaboration with others.

Fennema & Sherman (1978) males considered mathematics

to be more useful than females did.

Ethington (1992) Parental support, stereotyping

mathematics as a male domain, and perception of difficulty
had significantly negative direct effect on the achievement
for female.

QUESTION 5
Which theory is the study based on? Why is it
important?

The theory was based on Van Hiele Theory.

The importance of this theory ; might be one of the factors

that may helped girls to overcome the perception of
mathematics as a male domain.

Also, teaching or learning geometry from Van Hiele might

achieve equity in mathematics classroom.

QUESTION 6
Describe 5 levels of reasoning in geometry by
Van Hiele?

Was structured by Pierre van Hiele and Dina Van

Hiele Geldof (1957-1986)

Level-I (visualization)

5
levels of reasoning in
geometry

Level II (Analysis)
Level III ( Ordering)
Level IV ( Deduction)

Level V (Rigor)

QUESTION 7
Give details regarding participants in this study in
terms of its participation, background and location?

The participants in this study were 150 students which consist

of 66 boys and 84 girls.

Participants in this study were sixth-grade students enrolled

in six mathematics classes at a public middle school in North
Florida, USA

Majority of the students were from low sosio-economy income

families.

QUESTION 8
Do you think that 5 weeks given time were sufficient
enough for students and teachers to cover all the
topics? Why?

Not sufficient because ;

Time constraint pushed the teachers to limit their

instruction.

Students need more time to think about the

subject, discussion and share their ideas in
classroom

QUESTION 9
In your teaching class, boy or girl is
performing better in mathematics?

In my opinion, boys believe that their success

depends on superior ability meanwhile girl believe
that their success depends on the collaboration
with other and attempt to understand.

So, its doesnt matter which one is performing

better and gender was not a factor in learning
geometry. They are using their own ways to adapt
and learning mathematics.

QUESTION 10
Does motivations is important in learning
mathematics? Give example?

Yes, motivation is needed in learning

mathematics. This is because teacher influence
student in learning mathematics since the
students spend more time in school.

Students will felt supported and valued by their

teachers and willing to engage in classroom
activities and will highly motivated to be
successful in mathematics class.

Students also can be motivated by themselves and

their parental support plus their environment in
school.

Thank You