Uticaj individualnih karakteristika učenika na postignuće i interesovanje za matematiku i biologiju

Abstract

Bearing in mind that academic progress of students is one of the important goals of education, student achievement is the focus of many research studies. In addition to examining the contribution of teaching and school variables to student academic achievement, research in this area also focuses on examining individual student variables, as they largely explain differences in student achievement and represent important criteria for assessing the equality and equity of the education system. The aim of our research is to determine which individual characteristics of students contribute most to their achievement in mathematics and biology, as well as to their interest in these two subjects. The representative sample included 5476 students from 125 primary schools in Serbia (240 eighth grade classes) and 5021 parents. Data on student variables which were confirmed in previous studies to be strong predictors of school achievement were collected through questionnaires for students and parents. Hierarchical linear modeling was used in the data analysis. The results indicate that students’ reading habits, conscientiousness and prior achievement predict all four dependent variables. Impulsivity affects all outcomes except for achievement in biology, while gender and socio-economic status of the family predict student achievement in mathematics and biology, but not student interest in these subjects. Parental involvement in school activities impacts student interest in biology. Student-level variables explain a significant portion of the total variance in achievement in mathematics (45.79%), while this is not the case with achievement in biology (10.48%) and interest in mathematics (11.60%) and biology (14.20%). Recommendations for education policy and practice are given, as well as suggestions for further research.