The effect of mathematics online review sessions through a webcast system on fifth-grade students’ mathematics achievement

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of mathematics review webcasts on students' mathematics performance depending on the type of webcast access and use (no access, access but not use, access with moderate use, and access with extensive use) controlling for differences in the mathematics background. Moreover, (a) the relationship between students’ webcast use and their mathematics attitudes, (b) students’ perceptions of webcasts for their learning, and (c) students’ habits for using webcast system were examined. A purposive sample of 110 fifth-grade students was recruited from two middle schools which were using interactive white boards (IWB) in mathematics classes. This quasi-experimental research design employed seven instruments. Results indicated the following four major findings. First, planned comparisons ANCOVA results showed that there is a statistically significant difference between no access and access groups on their mathematics performance (p < .005). Next, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between webcast use and mathematics attitude, (r (56) = .326, p = .014). Third, students with webcast access reported that they found mathematics webcast system beneficial, engaging, and easy to use and they generally used mathematics webcasts for review, exam preparation, studying homework, and making up missing lessons. Last, students generally used watched more webcasts after mathematics classes, before mathematics exams and after motivational tools.