Relationship between Mathematics Teachers’ van Hiele Levels and Students’ Achievement in Geometry

Abstract

Using non-experimental quantitative correlational design, the van Hiele levels of thirty grade 9 mathematics teachers, as well as the achievement of 1489 students in geometry were investigated in this study. Results showed a significant difference with a substantial effect size of .64 between the achievement of students whose teachers are operating at level 5 in the van Hiele Levels of Geometric Thinking and those of students whose teachers are operating at level 2. This study underscored the importance to leverage on teachers’ van Hiele level of geometric thinking as it is highly correlated to student achievement. Developing teachers’ geometric thinking ability at the expected levels in order to improve students’ achievement may require trainings, further studies, or curriculum improvement for pre-service teachers. Moreover, a deeper study focusing on other content areas and skills in mathematics may be done to further assess their interrelationships with teachers’ van Hiele levels and student achievement. In addition, it would be of interest to investigate the grade level where student mathematics achievement starts to decline.