Radial Basis Function Neural Network with ensemble clustering for modeling mathematics achievement in Indonesia based on cognitive and non-cognitive factors

Abstract

Mathematics achievement could be influenced by cognitive and non-cognitive factors. The potential variable of cognitive factor is metacognition, whereas non-cognitive factors include Economic, Social, and Cultural Status (ESCS), resilience, life satisfaction, happiness, pride, fear, sadness, and gender. Those variables involve numerical and categorical data. For this reason, this study aims to apply the Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) model with ensemble clustering to model the relation between cognitive and non-cognitive aspects and mathematics achievement. The RBFNN is a soft computing approach based on the neural network model and has been shown as an effective model and free of assumption. The ensemble clustering is a process in RBFNN modeling to capture the independent variables involving the numerical and categorical data. It employs K-means clustering for the numerical data and K-modes for categorical data and combines the results of those two methods. The data used in this study are published by PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) 2018. The results show that the RBFNN with ensemble clustering deliver good performance in modeling the students’ mathematics achievement based on the cognitive and non-cognitive factors in terms of prediction accuracy. Other than RBFNN model, the use of cognitive and non-cognitive factors involving in this study also contributes to the high accuracy prediction. This further emphasizes that these factors are good predictors of mathematic achievement. Additionally, we suggest the silhouette cluster validation in the clustering process, since it leads to the number of hidden neurons of the best RBFNN model.