Community Resources and the Teaching of Mathematics in Secondary Schools

Community Resources and the Teaching of Mathematics in Secondary Schools

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Mathematics is used in our everyday life. This is to say that mathematics is a process of educating using numbers or the science of numbers, letters and shapes. Orok (2016) sees “functional mathematics education as that learning in mathematics that allows the learner to realize and understand themselves during and after formal school setting, thus helping them to cope with daily living. The author went further to define mathematics which in this case is self reliance, self realization, patriotism and productivity on the part of the learners’ p (69).

A community resource is anything that has the potential to improve the quality of life in a community. It is believed that all communities have educational assets and resources that educators can use to enhance learning experiences for students.

Most educational institutions cannot afford to depend on imported materials. Hence, there is need for teachers and their students to improvise teaching and learning materials. This is done by engaging students and by providing models related to the current area of study in mathematics. This can enhance effective teaching and learning of mathematics as well as the teaching effectiveness of teachers.

Community resources from the immediate environment used by the teachers in the teaching/learning process have strong impression on the minds of students. Its effect on the students helps to bring the gap between reality and abstract.

According to Ogunbi (2011), when teaching resources are form the immediate environment and used effectively, it makes learning more interesting and lively. It also retains interests of the learners during the delivery of mathematics lessons in the classroom”.

Okunronfia (2007) “identifies some example of the teaching aids or resources to include visual aids, audio aids, audio-visual aids real object and many others. The visual aids are designed materials that may be locally made or commercially produced. They come in form of wall charts, illustrated pictures, pectorals materials, puppets and models. Audio –visual aids are teaching machines like television and all sorts of projectors with sound attributes”.

Community resources are to enhance learning and academic success by providing activities and program for students. Using resource persons from the community to share their skills and knowledge is also a form of community resource utilization. According to Ajelabi (2000) as cited in Alasela (2013) community resource are human and non-human resource outside the classroom adapted for the purpose of making observation and obtaining some specific information.

Alasela (2013) stated that instructional materials can ensure maximum effectiveness and efficiency in teaching and learning process. Efficiency entails how judicious the instructional materials are utilized to obtain optimum achievement of instructional goals and objectives. The poor performances of students can be worked on with the use of community resources in the teaching of mathematics.

Moreover, students interpret instructional activities in terms of what they already know; they actively seek to relate new concepts attitudes and skills. Therefore, for better outcome of teaching learning process, two components should be considered which are inputs and outputs. Inputs consist human and materials resource while outputs are goals, realization of the teaching learning process. These human and material resources which are termed instructional resources or community resource are important to the teaching of mathematics in the school curriculum.

Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC, 2011) as cited in Alasela (2013), noted that the use of real life experience through an industrial visit (community resources) is the best way to facilitate the teaching of mathematics. This resource are use students’ interest and at the same come help to train learners to think out themselves in deep understanding of a lesson thus making learning interactive. Therefore this study was to find out community resources and the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area.

Community Resources and the Teaching of Mathematics in Secondary Schools

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Mathematics as a subject is activity oriented and resources based. Mathematics requires the use of activity in which the child is actively involved in participating mentally and physical with the use of teaching resources.

Teaching seem to have neglected the use of teaching resources, particularly the once within the community which would have helped in giving a clearer understanding of the subject; and this has caused poor performance to be on the increase. For some time now, there has been a growing concern over the poor teaching and learning of mathematics with the resultants poor and failing standard in secondary schools students’ performance in mathematics.

The West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination and other related bodies recognized in Nigeria have always indicated decrease in the number of passes.

Mathematics as a subject is necessary in our daily life because everything we do needs to be calculated and it is a mandatory subject to be learned in secondary schools. Students seem to believe that it is the most difficult subject because of its complexity. Adesela (2016) in his view observed that “poor academic performance in science (mathematics inclusive) is due to lack of teaching resources in secondary schools”. The lack of connections between mathematics to daily life or in relations to other sciences fosters low motivation and negative attitudes towards mathematics learning. All this triggered the researcher to ask; could the use of community resources contribute to the effective teaching of mathematics particularly in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to find out what community resources are used in the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area. Specifically, the study sought to;

1. Find out the specific community resources that are used in the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area.
2. Determine the effect of using cut fabrics in the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area.
3. Determine the effect of using bamboo sticks and used drinking straws in the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area.

Community Resources and the Teaching of Mathematics in Secondary Schools

1.4  Significance of the Study

This study would be significant in the following ways:

1. To the learners, this study would reduce abstraction in mathematics teaching thereby concertizing learnt concepts.
2. The findings of this study serve as a guide to teachers on the effective use of community resources during the teaching of mathematics.
3. The study will be of help to curriculum planners as it would assist them in taking into considerations the use community resources in the planning of different mathematics topics in the curriculum.
4. The research would serve as reference material to other students’ who may be researching on the same/similar topics.

1.5 Research Question

One research question guided the study:

1. What are the community resources used in the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area?

1.6 Research Hypotheses

The hypotheses that guided the study were stated below;

1. There is no significant difference in the teaching of mathematics (fractions) between teachers who teach mathematics with the of use cut fabrics and those who do not.
2. There is no significant difference in the teaching of mathematics (properties of triangles) between teachers who use bamboo sticks and used drinking straws and those who do not.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

The study was limited by:

1. Transportation constraints and limited time schedule for the study to be carried out.
2. Financial constraint also exerted a felt limitation on this study as the researcher could hardly have enough money to allow for the coverage of a wider cope.
3. Some of the respondents (teachers) were not helping issues as they refused to disclose relevant information for fear of their employers or heads of school.

1.8 Delimitation of the Study

The study was delimited to community resources and the reaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area. Only mathematics teachers from SS1 – SS3 classes in secondary schools in Uyo were used in the study. The specific community resources used were;

1. Bamboo sticks.
2. Used drinking straws
3. Cut fabrics from tailoring shop.

1.9 Definition of Terms

The following terms are operationally defined for easy understanding as they are used in the study.

1. Community: Is a group of people who live in a particular area, place or country.
2. Resources: Are those things that can be used to help achieve a pre-stated behavioural objective in a mathematics lesson.
3. Community Resources: These are local resources that aid the teaching and learning of mathematics that are gotten from the community. In this study, the community resources are: bamboo sticks, used drinking straws and cut fabrics from tailoring shops.

Community Resources and the Teaching of Mathematics in Secondary Schools

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

This chapter presents the summary, recommendations and conclusion of the finding.

5.1 Summary

The study examined community resources and the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, one research question and two hypotheses were postulated to guide the study. The researcher adopted a survey and quasi-experimental research designs. The population of the study consisted of all the mathematics teachers and student in senior secondary school two in Uyo Local Government Area.

The study sampled 12 mathematics teachers and 160 SSS11 students for the study. The instruments used for data collection were checklist and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT). To ascertain the level of utilization of the community resources, simple percentage was employed to analyze the data collected, while independent t-test statistical tool was used to test the hypothesis. Finding indicate that community resources were utilized and students taught mathematics with the use of community resources performed better than those taught mathematics without community resources

5.2 Recommendations

Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that;

1. Teachers should avail themselves of diverse resources in the community and adapt them to suit their lesson, during delivery in class.
2. Mathematics teachers should liaise with heads of schools to raise a school community resources center that will cater for the construction of community resources centers schools.
3. Principals of schools should create an enabling environment for mathematics teachers to on frequent field trips to places that can’t be brought into the classroom like banks etc. for the teaching of mathematics.

5.3 Conclusion

The results of the study identify community resources available in the teaching of mathematics and how it has influence students’ performance in mathematics. The study also showed the level of utilization of these community resources in the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area. From the findings, it means that most of these resources are available in schools or in the school community but not recognized and not fully utilized by the teachers.