The Effects of Affirmations on Middle Students with Difficulties in Math
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2020-05-10
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Masters of Education
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Abstract
The power of positivity has fueled progress for humanity since the beginning of time and continues to push students to reach their potential. Students who succeed in school are more flexible and use productive strategies to deal with stress (Hogan et al., 2010). Students with learning disabilities are three times more likely to drop out of high school compared to the average student (Ravipati, 2017). This and similar studies highlight the problem facing students who need to work much longer and harder to complete the same curriculum that mainstream students are able to obtain with moderate effort. Successful students with learning disabilities must have additional stamina and strategies to keep themselves from giving up academically. The impact of positive self-esteem on academic potential is significant (Gurung et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to learn whether choosing a daily affirmation before doing math homework would positively affect the students’ math quiz scores over one trimester. Quiz scores on Algebra I concepts were compared between those who received positive affirmations in the current school year in the second trimester with scores of students from the previous year’s class during the second trimester who did not receive positive affirmations. The results of the study presented in this paper indicated that students in the control group earned significantly higher quiz scores; as such, the null hypothesis was not rejected. The impact of the Covid-19 virus and school closure likely affected the current year’s scores.