Students’ learning difficulties in secondary mathematics classroom in Bungoma County and pedagogical remedies by the teachers to help students overcome these difficulties.

Abstract

The study was designed to identify students’ learning difficulties in secondary mathematics classroom, to investigate the possible causes of the errors and pedagogical remedies by the teachers to help students overcome their difficulties that hinder in-depth learning in secondary mathematics.

Descriptive survey, design was adopted for this study. Based on the input of two hundred and forty form four students and twelve secondary school mathematics teachers, an attempt was made to develop an overview of difficult curriculum topics in secondary mathematics. Teachers’ knowledge on students’ errors was investigated together with strategies for remedial teaching. Data was collected using a test that was conducted personally by the researchers. There were ten conceptual areas determined and included in the test viz: statistics, probability, vectors, longitudes and latitudes, linear programming, loci, circle, trigonometry, matrices and three dimensional geometry. Multiitems were developed in each of the areas with different difficulties in order to have an idea of which of the selected ten areas was posing threat of errors and misconceptions amongst the sample students. Semi structured interviews were also carried out among 25 selected students to identify the errors they had made in the process of solving mathematics. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Itemwise was conducted to identify errors students committed. Providing reflective accounts from teachers’ experience and presenting illustrative examples from their classrooms, the study provides abroad picture of the context in which students learn mathematics. The study identifies the factors that hinder students from gaining in-depth learning of mathematics concepts. The major reasons given for errors made were lack of understanding, procedures being forgotten, carelessness, negligence in transcribing information from the question and guesswork. The findings showed that item 4 (probability), item 3 (latitude and longitude), item 6 (linear programming), item 8 (lines planes in 3 dimensions) and loci was the most difficult item in mathematics. Content analysis showed that 148 (61.7%) students had conceptual errors, 48 (20%) made careless errors and 15 (6.2%) made value errors. The study builds on new conceptions about the professional identity and the critical relevance of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1987). This study has implications for the student learning process and understanding of mathematical concepts since mathematics is widely used in daily life. The errors made by students in solving mathematics problems provide useful input for mathematics teachers to design teaching and learning activities that help students to be more competent in mathematics.

Key words: Secondary mathematics, mathematical concepts, learning difficulties, pedagogical remedies, Errors.