Poor Academic Performances of Primary Schools in Mathematics, a Case Study Primary School in Ibadan North East Local Government
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the study
The main purpose of this study was to x-ray some of the problems causing pupils’ poor performance in primary school mathematics. This study was aimed and designed
specifically to:
- Examine the use of instructional materials and pupils’ academic performance in mathematics. ii.Examine parents’ socio-economic background and pupils’ academic performance in mathematics.
- Compare the performance of private and public primary school pupils in mathematics. iv. Examine ways in which teachers contribute to pupils’ poor performance in mathematics.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The problems/causes of poor academic performance in primary school mathematics is simply the problem of mathematics education in general. As a matter of fact, mathematics education is not a job of one person. It is a combined effort of both the learners, teachers, parents, government and even the society. Suffice it therefore to infer that most (if not all) of the causes of poor academic performance in primary school mathematics particularly and in higher school in general is centred on the above mentioned group of persons. They can cause the promotion and/or the retardation of the general students’ performance in mathematics and even other school subjects.
Care must therefore be taken by all these groups in educating the child, mathematically, the poor mathematics performance of pupils is evident in the first school leaving certificate examination. This chapter is aimed at reviewing the related literature in the subject of study to facilitate the understanding of the issues involved. The chapter is sub divided into the following:
- Pupils attitude towards the learning of mathematics
- Teachers professional qualification
- The use of teaching aid in mathematics parental involvement
- Parental involvement
- The head teacher and his administration
- Environmental influence
- Government/political influence
- Parents socio-economic status and performance in mathematics
Pupils Attitude towards Learning Mathematics
It has been observed that pupils’ performance in mathematics is very low and that pupils poor performance in mathematics result from themselves. No pupil is ever ready for a mathematics class. Even the psychological state of the child who is in class causes a great deal of laxity. There is always the fear in them that mathematics is difficult. It is also clear that pupils’ don’t have time to go through their mathematics notes (or textbooks) after the actual mathematics lesson at home. Attitude towards mathematics has been considered an important factor influencing participation and success in mathematics.
Weidmann and Humphrey (2000), states that investigation into students mathematics attitude and perspective not only informs teachers, parents and administrators about students need, but also serves as a catalyst for reform in mathematics education. There is a research showing evidence that students’ high performance in mathematics and mathematics learning. Mullis (2000) reported that gender difference in attitude towards mathematics influenced some researchers to study some affective variables as mediators of gender differences in mathematics achievement.
Papanastasious (2000), opined that even among those students that found a significant relationship between pupils’ attitude and their performance in mathematics, there was still a controversy regarding the educational implications of the results. For example, some researchers concluded that although statistically, the mean effect size for the relationship between attitude towards mathematics and achievement in mathematics was strong enough to have useful implications for educational practice.
Cote and Levine (2000); Singh, Granville and Dika (2000); and Tymm (2001) investigated 21,000 students attitude towards mathematics and suggested that the most important factors were the teacher and student academic level, while age, gender language were weakly associated with attitudes. The study of Webster and Fisher (2000), revealed that rural and urban students attitude in mathematics and career aspiration, positively affected their performance. Alternat, Momoa, Indoshi, and Olhuon (2000) found that students’ attitude changes could be predicted and influenced by types of classmates. The students’ attitude towards an academic subject is a crucial factor in learning and achievement in that subject may be an important factor in his or her academic achievement.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter presents the design and methodology employed. The purpose of conducting this research, the aim is to outline the procedures that were used to answer research questions. This chapter was presented under the following sub-division.
- Research design
- Area of the study
- Population
- Sample and sampling techniques
- Instrumentation of data collection
- Validation of the instrument
- Methods of data collection
- Methods of analysis
Research Design
The study employed a descriptive survey and quasi-experimental research designs. Descriptive survey design was considered appropriate because the study sough to describe with empirical data, the state of affairs of all the observed phenomena; while the quasi experimental design was used because the study also sought to investigate whether there is a difference in academic performance of private and public primary school pupils in mathematics.
Area of Study
This research was carried out in Ibadan North-east Local Government Area of Oyo State. Ibadan North East Local Government was created by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria on 27th August, 1991 from the defunct Ibadan Municipal Government. The headquarters of the Council which is one of the most urban Local Government in Oyo State is accommodated at Iwo Road Barracks, Ibadan. The Local Government is bounded in the East by Egbeda and Ona-Ara Local Governments in the West by Ibadan North Local Government, in the North, the Local Government share boundaries with Lagelu and Akinyele Local Governments and with Ibadan South-East Local Government in the South. The 1991 population census credited Ibadan North East Local Government with 330,399 people by the current figure of the population cannot be less than a million people. The Local Government has multi-ethnic nationalities. Though, predominantly Yoruba; other nationalities include the Igbo, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ijaw, Hausa etc.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
This chapter has to do with the presentation interpretation and discussion of research results and findings.
Presentation of results
The results of this study was presented under the following research questions. The interpretation of results follows the table where such results were presented.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AN CONCLUSION
This chapter presents the summary of what was involved in this study, conclusions reached and recommendations made.
Summary
The purpose of this study was to ascertain the causes of pupils’ poor performance in primary school mathematics. Specifically, the study was designed to answer the following research questions.
- To what extent do the use of instructional materials affect pupils’ mathematics performance?
- To what extent does parent socio-economic status affects academic performance of pupils in mathematics?
- What is the difference in the performance of private and public primary schools pupils in mathematics?
- In what ways do teachers contribute to pupils’ poor performance in mathematics?
The total population involved in this study was 315 subjects which consisted of 45 teachers and 270 pupils in the selected primary schools in the area under study. A 25 questionnaire item based on four research questions was developed used to collect the data for the study.
General Conclusion
Within the limitation of this study and the findings presented, the following conclusions are drawn.
- The use of instructional materials adequately led to pupils’ poor performance in mathematics.
- Parents’ socio-economic status contributed to the pupils’ performance in mathematics.
- Pupils in private primary school perform better than their colleagues in public schools in mathematics.
- Teachers contribute to the poor performance of pupils in mathematics.
Implication of the Study
The following are the implications of this study:
- It will be useful for the government to improve the standards of public primary schools counterparts.
- It will be useful for teachers to know their weakness as well as their strength in order for subsequent improvement.
- It will be useful for parents to know their weakness as well as their strengths in order to effectively contribute to their children’s education.
- It will provide a basis for government to train teachers and adequately post them appropriately to areas where needed.
- It will help teachers to develop their instructional material usage and improvisation techniques.
Recommendation
On the basis of the findings of this study, and the conclusions made, the following recommendations are presented.
- Teachers should be encouraged to use instructional materials in every lesson. They should also be trained on how to use these instructional materials. This can be done through seminars, workshops etc.
- Parents should be advise to take part in their children’s education by paying their fees, helping them do assignments, attend PTA meetings etc. parents can be advised through counselling, teachers etc.
- Government should improve the public primary schools by adequate funding, providing teaching aids and learning facilities, provision of trained teachers, proper planning and implementation of the primary education programme, proper supervision, monitoring and the evaluation of the curriculum etc.
- Teachers who teach mathematics in our primary schools, should be given necessary incentives to motivate them. They should be trained and qualified before embarking on the teaching activity. Teachers can be motivated through appropriate payment of their salaries and other wages, by giving them consistent promotion etc.
Limitation of the Study
This study was conducted in Ibadan North-east Local Government Area of Oyo state. This study was limited to nine primary schools due to time and financial problems that couldn’t allow me conduct this research in the whole area.
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