The effects of the resource room instruction of mainstream students on math achievements and self-efficacy

The purpose of this research is to assert the effects of the resource room instruction of mainstream students on math achievements and self efficacy. In order to test the hypotheses, a pre-test and post-test model with control group was used. The research was carried out at an elemantary school in Izmir with mainstream students in the second term of 2010-2011 academic year. There were 8 students in the experimental group and 9 students in the control group.?Math self efficacy scale? and ?basic multiplication measuring instrument? developed by the researcher were administered to the experimental and to the control groups in the form of a pretest, a posttest, and a follow up test. In the research parents? opinions towards the resource room and teacher opinions about math achievements and self efficacy perceptions of their students who take support education were also determined.One-way variance analysis for repeated measures was used in assessing the obtained through data of the ?Math self efficacy scale? and ?basic multiplication measuring instrument?. Results obtained by the analysis of achievement test data demonstrated a significant difference between the achievement test scores of the experimental and the control groups, between pre-test and post-test (p=0,00) and between the pre-test and the follow up test (p=0,00). However, there was no significant difference between the post-test and the follow up test. According to the results; the math instruction given in resource room increased students? math achievement significantly.Results obtained by the analysis of self efficacy scale data demonstrated a significant difference between the self-efficacy scale scores of the experimental and the control groups, between pre-test and post-test (p=0,00) and between the pre-test and the follow up test (p=0,01). However, there was no significant difference between the post-test and the follow up test. According to the results; the math instruction given in the resource room increased students? math achievement significantly. Results relevant to self efficacy showed us that students? self efficacy in the resource room decreased in comparison with those students educated in the classroom.In the research interview method was used to determine the teachers? and parents? views about the resource room. During the interviews the parents mentioned that they wanted their children to be educated in the resource room for some lessons. The teachers indicated that the instruction given in the resource room affected the mainstream students? math achievement and self-efficacy positively.