DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN PREFERRED AND ACTUAL MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AS PERCEIVED BY STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN HONG-KONG

With the help of qualitative research, and instrument to assess the le arning environment of the mathematics classroom was developed. Satisfa ctory reliabilities and internal validity were obtained. The instrumen t was used to analyze the discrepancies between the preferred and actu al classroom environment. It was found that students preferred a more positive classroom environment that they perceived as being actually p resent. It was also found that girls preferred a more harmonious class room with teacher involving in it, but the boys perceived a more enjoy able one. Detailed profile analysis was performed to investigate the d ifference between teachers' and students' perception of the classroom. It was found that the students scored higher in every dimension of th e preferred classroom than those in the actual classroom. The reverse was found in the teachers' scoring, except for ''teacher-involvement'' .