Attitudes toward problem-based learning track math achievement in Somali schools

Secondary school students in Somalia’s Benadir region who hold positive attitudes toward problem-based learning report higher mathematics achievement, according to a new survey study of 357 students from five public and private schools. The research, published in Discover Education, used structural equation modeling to map how enjoyment, motivation, and perceived value of mathematics relate to students’ self-reported academic performance through their attitudes toward this student-centered teaching approach.

Problem-based learning, or PBL, asks students to tackle real-world problems collaboratively rather than passively absorbing lectures. While the method has gained traction globally, particularly in countries like Singapore, Finland, and Japan, evidence from post-conflict educational settings has remained scarce. The Somali education system continues to recover from decades of conflict, facing limited instructional resources, overcrowded classrooms, and uneven access to trained teachers, conditions that constrain the adoption of innovative pedagogical approaches.

The researchers, Mohamed Hussein Ibrahim, Abdirahman Ibrahim Abdi, and Anas Ali Alhur, distributed 450 questionnaires across five large secondary schools, three private and two public, and received 357 completed responses, a 79.3 percent response rate. Eligible students were enrolled in grades 9 through 12 and had been exposed to problem-based learning activities as part of their regular mathematics instruction, which involved structured problem-solving tasks integrated into classroom teaching on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

The survey instrument contained 25 items measuring five constructs: attitude toward problem-based learning, enjoyment in mathematics, mathematics motivation, value of mathematics, and self-reported mathematics achievement. All items used a five-point Likert scale. Sample questions included statements such as “I enjoy learning mathematics through problem-based activities” and “I perform well in mathematics tests and assignments.” Importantly, mathematics achievement was operationalized as self-reported performance, reflecting students’ perceptions of their own success rather than objective records like standardized test scores or official grades.

Using partial least squares structural equation modeling with 5,000 bootstrap resamples, the team found that attitude toward problem-based learning showed a strong, statistically significant positive association with self-reported mathematics achievement, with a standardized path coefficient of 0.386 and a p-value below 0.001. The model explained over 61 percent of the variance in self-reported achievement and nearly half of the variance in attitudes toward PBL, suggesting substantial explanatory power for a cross-sectional survey design.

Enjoyment in mathematics was significantly linked to attitudes toward problem-based learning but showed no significant direct association with achievement, with a path coefficient of negative 0.025 and a p-value of 0.737. Mathematics motivation, by contrast, emerged as a robust predictor, showing significant positive associations with both attitudes toward PBL and achievement, with coefficients of 0.382 and 0.379 respectively. The value of mathematics followed a different pattern, showing no significant relationship with attitudes toward PBL but a significant direct association with achievement, with a coefficient of 0.151 and a p-value of 0.023.

Mediation analysis revealed that attitudes toward problem-based learning functioned as a significant indirect pathway linking enjoyment and motivation with achievement. The indirect effect of enjoyment through PBL attitudes was 0.125, while the indirect effect of motivation was 0.148, both statistically significant. No significant indirect pathway existed for the value of mathematics, suggesting that students who recognize the importance of mathematics may pursue performance-oriented goals such as examination success independently of their feelings about specific instructional methods.

The theoretical framework drew on constructivist learning theory, self-determination theory, and expectancy-value theory, integrated into a single model. The authors suggest that students’ internal dispositions, including enjoyment, motivation, and value perceptions, shape how they engage with instructional approaches like PBL, which in turn relates to their self-reported academic outcomes. Effect sizes ranged from small to moderate, with the effect of PBL attitudes on achievement at 0.199, considered moderate, while motivation effects on both attitudes and achievement fell between 0.093 and 0.111.

Several limitations warrant careful interpretation. The study used purposive sampling, a non-probability technique that may introduce selection bias and limit generalizability to all secondary students in Somalia, particularly those in rural areas or schools where PBL is not implemented. The cross-sectional design restricts causal inference, meaning the findings represent associations rather than causal relationships. The reliance on self-reported questionnaire data from a single source at a single point in time may introduce response biases, including social desirability bias, though a full collinearity assessment suggested common method bias was unlikely to significantly affect the results. Students were also nested within schools, and potential clustering effects were not explicitly modeled.

The authors suggest the findings carry practical implications for curriculum reform, teacher professional development, and the promotion of student-centered pedagogies in secondary mathematics education. In post-conflict education systems such as Somalia’s, fostering positive learning attitudes and strengthening student motivation may be associated with improvements in self-reported mathematics achievement. Future research employing longitudinal designs, experimental approaches, multi-source data collection, and more diverse geographic regions could help clarify whether these associations hold over time and across different educational contexts.

Subject of Research: Secondary school students' attitudes toward problem-based learning in mathematics and their association with self-reported achievement in the Benadir region of Somalia

Article Title: Secondary school students’ attitudes toward problem-based learning in mathematics in the benadir region of Somalia

Article References: Ibrahim, M. H., Abdi, A. I., & Alhur, A. A. (2026). Secondary school students’ attitudes toward problem-based learning in mathematics in the benadir region of Somalia. Discover Education, 5(1), Article 1273. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-026-02361-5

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44217-026-02361-5

Keywords: problem-based learning, mathematics education, Somalia, Benadir region, secondary school students, structural equation modeling, self-reported achievement, student motivation, post-conflict education, cross-sectional survey, PLS-SEM, student-centered pedagogy