Students’ perception of class activity and academic achievement: The role of sex and academic discipline?

Perception of class activity influences on different aspect of students’ academic life especially their academic achievement. The present study investigates the relationship between students’ perception of class activity and academic achievement as well as the effects of sex and academic discipline on this relationship. 697 junior year students ( 434 male and 263 female) from Tehran public high school participated. They responded to the My Class Activity (MCA) scale. Principal components were identified as: interest, challenge, to be active, choice and enjoyment and. Factor analysis confirmed the presence of these five components. Student’s achievement gathered three months after their response. The results show just a relation between interest and academic achievement in male group. There is a link between interest, challenge and being active with achievement among Science students, whereas among Mathematics students interest, being active and enjoyment with academic achievement showed a relationship. Interest could predict achievement independent of sex and academic discipline. There is no moderator effect for sex but academic discipline can moderate the relationship between enjoyment and academic achievement. The lack of moderator role for sex can be attributed to the centralized education system and the same curriculum for both girls and boys.