Poor Performance in Mathematics

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Mathematics has often been termed the “gatekeeper” of success or failure for high school graduation and career success. A lack of sufficient mathematical skills and understanding hinders one’s ability to make critical vital educational life and career decisions. Mathematics is a branch of study which deals with our daily activities. It is one of the most essential subjects in the field of engineering, medicine, science, commerce, psychology, and so on.

Poor student performances in the subject area of mathematics are evident in many secondary schools in Fiji.

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This research work will mainly focus on the students performances at year 9 level and the geographical location of my research will be based at Sila Central. The subjects of this research will be the year 9 level students and teachers. School managers and parents will also be the area of the subject as they play a pivotal role in student academics.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

In this journal Agyman sheds a thorough light on the foundation of mathematics at the secondary school level in Ghana.

According to the Institute of Education in Ghana, student performances are not up to expectations as the reports reveal that a huge number of students are not being able to understand algebra and numbers which is the fundamentals of mathematics. Social-economic status is one of the major contributing factor in the prediction of academic performance. Teacher plays important role in the process of imparting knowledge to the students and as seen by Agyman (2016) despite the importance of high teacher quality the specific characteristics and qualities of teachers are not met as the teachers need more professional development training.

This journal considers teaching resources as another concern as effective teaching and learning are linked to competencies to human resources and the material resources which are needed for the impartation of knowledge. Student attitude towards mathematics influences the effort they put in understanding and practicing mathematical concepts and skills. The attitude determines the effort the students put in learning and in Ghana the students lack in a positive attitude towards mathematics.

Relevance

This journal is closely related to the topic that I have chosen for the research as both deals with the concerns related to understanding mathematics at secondary school level. The geographical location of the journal is based at Ghana while I presume my research in Nausori area, Fiji Islands however the area of concern of the subject is the same. Students in Fiji also face similar situations in understanding the subject of mathematics and this can be proved once the research on this issue is done. The area of concerns discussed in the journal such as student attitude towards the subject of mathematics, understanding the concepts of algebra and numbers, and teacher teaching quality are key concerns and can be similarly be used to prove the results of my research simultaneously. The research statistics is also given in the journal as these could be used as a comparison. Mathematics is a very significant subject area that holds great concerns to other related fields and research on these topics holds great importance to other stakeholders.

JOURNAL

Sadiq’s journal reveals the causes of poor performance in mathematics among public senior secondary schools students in the Azare metropolis of Bauchi state, Nigeria. The findings of the study has shown negative attitude toward mathematics, anxiety, and fear of mathematics, inadequate qualified teachers, poor teaching methods, inadequate teaching materials, overcrowded classes were some of the causes of poor performance in mathematics in the study area. Another major issue for poor performance among secondary school students of Nigeria includes the misconception of the subject which is regarded as a difficult one, fear, and anxiety which hinders learning.

The study also found out that developing a positive attitude, motivation and proper guidance toward mathematics, using proper methods of teaching the subject, provision of relevant teaching materials, additional classrooms and furniture, provision of libraries and mathematical laboratories were some of the ways of improving performance in mathematics in the study area. The study recommended that frequent inter-school competition in mathematics, frequent supervision and inspection by proper authorities as well as the enlightenment of parents on the importance of children’s education should be adopted.

Relevance

This journal is relevant to my research topic as it shows why students perform poorly in the subject area of mathematics and ways to improve the performances of pupils. Similar situations are also faced by students and teachers of Fiji islands. This can be proved only if a proper research in this subject area is being carried out.

The issues which are highlighted in Nigeria can be used as a guideline for the compilation of my research work as there are differences of locations, culture, language and population. The research statistics given in the journal can be used to compare Fiji Island with other countries such as Nigeria in terms of academic performance in mathematics. Mathematics is an interrelating subject with other subject areas and hence research in these subjects creates interest to many policy developers.

JOURNAL

This journal published by American research institute of policy development shows trends and factors that determine gender as a contributor to poor student performance in the subject area of mathematics. There is also a difference in the subject interest of mathematics in urban and rural schools with gender an issue with it. It is seen in Tanzania that female students are usually showing a decreasing trend in mathematics which includes factors such as female teacher role models and lack of appropriate school environment for girls.

Analysis of examination results shows that majority of female candidates show decreasing trends. In Tanzania education is seen as the tool to fight the enemies of development which are ignorance, diseases and poverty. Samwel in his journal also discuss the issue of truancy where the rate is higher to girls than compared to boys as it includes reasons such as early marriage or pregnancy. This study has adopted an explanatory research design to collect and analyze quantitative data.

Relevance

Samwel in his journal has discussed issues that correlate to the settings in Fiji Islands. There is also evident in some parts of the island especially in regards to rural and urban settings of the school, there is vast difference in pass rate of mathematics and also relating the fact of gender difference at certain locations.

The issues raised by Samwel can be used as a reference when doing the actual research in Nausori, Fiji Islands and act as a guideline. The research statistic can be complied locally and compared internationally. Upon completion of the research it could be clearly mapped out the reasons of poor performance and how does urban and rural schools correlate with each other and also the issue of gender difference.

JOURNAL

Popoola and Olarewaju investigated the factors that are responsible for the poor performance of students in mathematics. Some of the factors as mentioned by the researchers for poor performance in mathematics are poor foundation at lower levels, lack of motivations, availability of resources and so forth. This research was being carried with random samples of 109 students from BestStart College, Mando Kaduna. The result of the research mostly included incompetent teachers, lack of teaching facilities, absolute materials, teacher absenteeism, and poor background. It was also seen that there were very less significant differences among males and female students concerning the poor performance in school mathematics. The use of questions in teaching and learning mathematics is seen as a vital feature in understanding mathematics for Kaduna students.

Some recommendations made by the researchers, the need for efficient and effective teachers who are professionally and academically qualified to promote mathematics learning in schools. Affective and cognitive teaching strategies should be interwoven during mathematics teaching and learning since both have an impact on mathematics reasoning.

Relevance

The journal referred is closely related to my subject area of research as it can be seen similar situations in Fiji as well. Arithmetic is one of the center subjects to be offered by all students up to tertiary levels of training among Science and Technology courses. It is one of the mandatory subjects. This obligatory nature of science conveys with it a suspicion that all individuals from our general public ought to have the learning of the subject.

Some of the reasons provided by the researcher which hinders students’ performance in mathematics is closely related to the context of Fiji islands as it can also see that poor teacher attitude towards teaching, teacher and student absenteeism, lack of interest and poor background. This could only be proved correct in Fiji once proper research on this topic is being carried out while this journal can be used as a guideline in the compilation of this research topic.

JOURNAL

This study is investigated by Sadiq, showing the causes of poor performance in mathematics among public senior secondary schools students in Azare metropolis of Bauchi state, Nigeria. The findings of the study have shown negative attitudes toward mathematics, anxiety, and fear of mathematics, inadequate qualified teachers, poor teaching methods, inadequate teaching materials, overcrowded classes were some of the causes of poor performance in mathematics in the study area. Another major issue for poor performance among secondary school students of Nigeria includes the misconception of the subject which is regarded as a difficult one, fear, and anxiety which hinders learning.

Relevance

This journal is relevant to my research topic as it shows why students perform poorly in the subject area of mathematics and ways to improve the performances of pupils. Similar situations are also faced by students and teachers of Fiji islands. This can be proved once a proper research in this subject area is being carried out.

The issues which are highlighted in Nigeria can be used as a guideline for the compilation of my research work as there are differences of locations, culture, language and population. The research statistics given in the journal can be used to compare the results of Fiji Island with other countries such as Nigeria in terms of academic performance in mathematics. Mathematics is a key area of concern as it is linked to other subject prerequisites of such as engineering, commerce, medical and many more so research on this area will be beneficial to many policy developers.