An investigation into some of the factors which influence students’ performance in mathematics in secondary schools in Manjiya county, Bududa district, Eastern Uganda

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Date
2018-09
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Publisher
Kampala International University, College/School of Education
Abstract
The research addressed the factors that could influence performance in Mathematics in secondary schools in Manjiya County Bududa District. It aimed at determining the teacher, student and school-related factors that influence performance in mathematics in the district. The study adopted descriptive research design. The target population was mathematics teachers and Senior Three students. Stratified sampling technique was used to select Six (6) secondary schools: 1 for boys, 1 for girls and 4 for mixed from’ Nine secondary schools in Manjiya County, Bududa District, Eastern Uganda. Twenty-seven Mathematics Teachers teaching the study classes were purposively sampled. Simple random sampling was used to select one stream from each category where there were more than one stream, ~otherwise the stream was purposively selected. The factors considered in this study include: the students y gender, class size, teaching methods and availability of teaching/learning resources. These a±e the independent variables and the dependent variable is students’ performance. The objective of the study was to find out whether these factors influence the students achievement in mathematics significantly or not. The data collected, was coded and analyzed using the SPSS package. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique was used to test the effect of the factors on students’ performance. The study revealed that students’ performance is influenced by teaching method. The study also revealed that the availability of textbooks influence students’ performance, although, the influence was not statistically significant. Gender differences were noted in performance where on average male students performed better than female students, however, the difference was not statistically significant. It was recommended that heuristic approaches to teaching should be integrated with expository approaches to enhance teaching and learning. Cooperative learning should be emphasized among teacher-students and students-students and students should be exposed to problem-solving situations to help them develop critical thinking skills.
Description
A research report submitted to the college of education open, distance and c-learning for the partial fullfilment of the requirements for the award of a Bachelors of science with education
Keywords
Students’ performance, Mathematics
Citation