Investigation of the effects of secondary school students' psychological resilience and academic grit levels on mathematics achievement

Abstract

The aim of the study is to examine the achievement of secondary school students in mathematics courses based on psychological resilience and academic grit. In the research, descriptive survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. In this context, data were collected from 204 students studying in secondary schools in the district of Görükle, Bursa, in the spring term of the 2022-2023 academic year. As a data collection tool “Brief Resilience Scale” adapted by Dogan (2015), "Academic Grit Scale" adapted by Sağkal et al. (2020) was used. In this study, students' mathematics achievement was determined according to the grades in the mathematics course at the end of the semester. While analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test were used for group comparisons, correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between psychological resilience and academic grit levels. According to the research results, it was seen that the psychological resilience levels of the students were medium and their academic grit levels were medium. Although there was no statistically significant difference in the evaluations made in the context of mathematics course achievement, it was observed that the achievement of the course increased as the levels of psychological resilience and academic grit increased. In terms of different variables, it was seen that academic grit levels did not differ according to gender. It was determined that the psychological resilience levels showed a statistically significant difference according to the gender variable and the psychological resilience of male students was higher. It was observed that the levels of psychological resilience and academic grit did not differ according to grade levels. t was determined that there was a positive and moderate relationship between the mathematics course achievement of secondary school students and their levels of resilience and academic grit, and a positive and moderate relationship between their levels of resilience and academic grit.

Keywords

• Psychological resilience
• Academic grit
• Mathematics achievement
• Secondary school

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