Perspectives on Developing, Enhancing and Sustaining Interests in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics in Secondary Schools in the South West Region of Cameroon
Journal Title: International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development - Year 2020, Vol 4, Issue 4
Abstract
Mathematics is the beauty of sciences and the foundation of modern human society. Consequently, the influence of mathematics pervades the entire gamut of our everyday human endeavour. Mathematical knowledge and skills are necessary in almost every field of human endeavour. It now becomes obvious that mathematics as a discipline is an indispensable element in man's quest for better living. Advancements in science and technology being very vital for man's survival will certainly not be possible without mathematics. Mathematics finds useful applications to varying degrees albeit to various aspects of life in the industry, music, agriculture, commerce, medicine, tailoring, building and construction, carpentry, engineering, etc. This is the raison d'être why mathematics has continued to attract considerable attention in our educational systems round the globe.The findings of this study show that this phenomenon of our students shying away from mathematics more than any other single factor is the spring board for the poor state of mathematics teaching and learning in our secondary schools in Cameroon. When once a student is afraid of any mathematical task, the one does everything to avoid the task. But where the student must face the task, the one does so with lack of interest -mathematics phobia. In spite of government's effort to make mathematics instruction in our secondary schools in Cameroon compulsory, studies show that performance in mathematics still remains appallingly poor.This study investigated perspectives on developing, enhancing and sustaining interests in the teaching and learning of mathematics in secondary schools in the South West Region of Cameroon. Methodologically, the study employed a "Mixed Method" research design which incorporated the quasi experimental and survey research designs. The target population of the study was 40,866 for students, for teachers 1,032 and for schools 183. Two secondary schools were selected per division, making a total of 12 secondary schools from the six divisions were randomly selected for the study. The sample size was 432 which comprised 24 mathematics teachers and 408 mathematics students. 24 secondary schools randomly selected for the study from six divisions of the South West region. Specifically, the study assessed the extent at which availability and appropriateness in use, of instructional resources affect students' academic performance in mathematics in secondary schools. Two research questions were answered and two hypotheses were tested. A questionnaire and a mathematics achievement test MAT were used for data collection. Three experts validated the mathematics achievement test MAT .The data were analysed descriptively using percentages, mean, standard deviation and inferentially using the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, R, at P 5 and the means compared for the quasi experiments. The findings revealed that there was a significant influence of availability of instructional resources on students mathematics performance R=0.303, P=0.05 there was a weak influence of appropriate use of instructional resources on students mathematics performance R=0.201, P=0.05 . There was significant difference in the mean score of students taught using instructional resources than those taught using conventional methods without instructional resources . Results revealed that students taught using instructional resources performed better than students taught using conventional methods by quasi experimental. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the ministry of secondary education in Cameroon and other education stakeholders should collaborate to encourage teachers' adoption and successful integration of diverse instructional resources in the teaching learning process.In aggregate, students were mostly not satisfied with the use of print media as the highest weight response of 45.8 , highlighted that print media were not available. 27.4 to a low extent satisfied with the use of print media while 26.7 of them were highly satisfied. Instructional resources are first not available in our secondary schools in Cameroon and mathematics teachers do not make use of them in mathematics instruction. Besong Francis Mbeng | Agborbechem Peter Tambi "Perspectives on Developing, Enhancing and Sustaining Interests in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics in Secondary Schools in the South West Region of Cameroon" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-4 , June 2020, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd30912.pdf
Authors and Affiliations
Besong Francis Mbeng | Agborbechem Peter Tambi
Keywords
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