Students’ perceptions of their mathematics classroom learning environment in a newly implemented standard-based curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cluster analysis

Investigating students’ perceptions of their mathematics classroom learning environment introduced during a pandemic is a significant approach for gauging the degree to which the learning environment meets the expectations of students and policy guidelines. The study sought to understand gender and group dynamics in students’ mathematics classroom learning environment. The study is a cross-sectional survey of public school students. Multi-stage sampling was used to select grade 8 students. The Mathematics Constructivist-Oriented Learning Environment Scale (MCOLES) was used to obtain students’ perceptions (N = 520) data and analysed with SPSS 26 and Amos 25. The analysis included (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, validity and reliability analysis) scale validation, descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test and cluster analysis. The findings included a strong factorial structure for MCOLES with six factors (Teacher support, student-initiated involvement, colleague involvement, equity, differentiation, and clarity of assessment). Students’ perception revealed a strong use of assessment to guide learning and minimal differentiated learning. Significant and small gender difference in students’ perception was observed in the student-initiated factor only. Finally, two clusters of students’ perceptions of their mathematics classroom learning environment were found. The implication for teacher professional development programs focusing on differentiated learning in the mathematics classroom learning environment is discussed.