Participation in Open Up Resources by Gender and Family Income Level on Mathematics Achievement of Grades 7 and 8 Students

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the effects by gender and by family-income level between students using Open Up Resources (OUR) curriculum (a Problem-Based Learning [PBL] curriculum) versus traditional curriculum on mathematics achievement of Grades 7 and 8 students. A stratified random sample of 320 students from four Central and Southeast Arkansas schools (n = 160 for Grades 7 and 8, respectively) was drawn for this study. Data analysis involved the use of 2 x 2 factorial ANOVAs. The key findings of the study were that the mathematics achievement of Grade 8 students using OUR was significantly higher than the scores of those using traditional mathematics curricula. The scores of Grade 7 students using both curriculum types were similar. Seventh-grade females had higher mathematics achievement than males. Students from low family-income levels had lower mathematics achievement in both grades than those from higher family-income levels. Based on these findings, PBL curricula such as OUR are recommended as a strategy for closing gaps in mathematics achievement