TABLE OF
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
1.1
BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
1.4
RESEARCH
QUESTION
1.5
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
1.6
SCOPE
AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
CHAPTER TWO
2.0
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1
The concept and importance of mathematics as a subjects
2.2
The nature of mathematics and problem.
2.3
The concept of indices and logarithm.
2.4
The relationship between indices and logarithm.
2.5
The teaching of indices and logarithm.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
3.1
INTRODUCTION
3.2
POPULATION
AND SAMPLE
3.3 ADMINISTRATION OF INSTRUMENT
3.4 PROCEDURE FOR DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FOUR
4:0 PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA
4:1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS SCORES
4.3 ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS RESPONSE TO SECTION C OF
THE STUDENTS QUESTIONNAIRES
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 SUMMARY CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
5.1
SUMMARY
5.2
CONCLUSION
5.3
RECOMMENDATION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX:
Students Questionnaire
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The
problems facing education in this country since 1960 are high rate of school
enrolment, inadequate instructional materials, high rate of drop outs,
increased school expenditure, unemployment of school leavers, inadequate
qualified teachers, mass failure in public examinations and poor quality of
school leavers.
These
challenges led to the introduction of the 6-3-3-4 system of education. Despite
the introduction of the new system, the problem of quality education at all
levels still persists.
In
recent times, it has been discovered that one of the ways by which contemporary
education can be maintained in this country Nigeria is to equip, People to
function effectively at this age of Information Technology (IT). Mathematics
(the language of all science) is a corner stone for this preparation because of
its unique role in every facet of life.
Therefore,
as we know that mathematics is considered a pivot subject to any art of useful
living and societal development. The reasons for making mathematics a
compulsory school subject are therefore many. But we shall consider some in
this project.
Mathematics
is the science of quality and space; it is systematic in organization and exact
because of its counting, adding, subtracting dividing, and multiplication which
are learned. At the fundamental mathematics process which of course has immense
practical value in life and the process are carried out in buying and selling,
cooking, travelling etc.
According
to Sanya (1985), in his research work, he mentioned that mathematics is an
indispensible hinge and the central core of our educational system.
Mathematics
consists of many branches these are: Arithmetic, statistics, Algebra, Geometry
and Trigonometry to mention just a few. However, the scope of this study is
limited to the area of indices and logarithms.
Indices
and logarithms are branches of mathematics that deals with numbers and
numerations, calculation and simplification, it also deal with student’s
ability to use logarithms table.
According
to (Olubodun 1986, Olarewaju 1986, Oyedeji 1987) many works have been done to
determine the difficulties of students in the learning of mathematics, but not
much works have been done to establish what aspects of mathematical concepts
are emphasize by teaching as they teach mathematics.
This
study therefore investigated into the difficulties student(s) encountered in
solving indices and logarithms in Senior Secondary School (SS1).
1.2 STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
The
reason for this study is to state the nature of the problems students face in
mathematics. From experience, students find some aspect of problems laws
involving indices and logarithms difficult.
Also
complaints from parents, school authorities and government functionaries about
the poor attitude of students to mathematics are attributed to indiscipline
among students and lack of quality mathematics teachers. Again some of the
reasons attributed to these poor performance are:
1.
Lack of knowledge in the use of
mathematical table or the logarithm table.
2.
Poor concept applied in the use of laws
of indices
3.
Lack of continuous practice of problems
relating to indices and logarithms
1.3 PURPOSE
OF THE STUDY
The
purpose of this study is therefore to:
1.
Explain the concepts of indices and
logarithms
2.
State the relationship between indices
and logarithms
3.
Identify the area of difficulties SS1 students
face in solving indice and logarithms.
4.
Suggest possible solutions that can help
to improve the performance of the students in indices and logarithms.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION
The
study sought answers to the following research question:
1.
What difficulties students encountered
in relating the multiplication division and the raising to a given power in
solving questions?
2.
What difficulties students encountered
in applying laws of indices in calculation and simplification?
3.
What difficulties students faced in changing
questions in indices form to logarithms form?
4.
What learning difficulties students
encountered in using logarithms tables and identifying the characteristics of
number corresponding to a given logarithm from the table of antilogarithm.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Mathematics
had been generally accepted as the major difficult area of students school
work.
This
study work would therefore encourage the teachers and the students to develop positive
attitude toward the topic, since this study wishes to identify the area of the
difficulty in solving problems in indices and logarithms.
The
understanding of difficulty of the topic would help the prospective teachers
and future researchers to know the different approaches to be use while
teaching the topic, having known different problems encountered by the students
in indices and logarithms.
Also,
publishers of mathematics textbooks would take great advantages of this study
and publish related books to the student’s problems.
This
study would also enable the government to provide teaching and learning
environment that would enhance the understanding of indices and logarithms in
our schools.
1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This
research focused on difficulties encountered in solving problems in indices and
logarithms in Senior Secondary School one (SS1).
The
test used covered all methods used in solving indices and logarithms at SS1
level in mathematics viz:
1.
Applying the basic rules of indices
including fractional indices in calculation and simplification.
2.
Explaining the relationship between
indices and logarithms.
3.
Using logarithms tables in calculations.
The
study was carried out in six schools in Mainland Local Government Area and
Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State.
Ø Wesley
Girls Senior Secondary School, Yaba.
Ø Herbert
Macaulay Girls High School Ebute-Metta.
Ø Ayetoro
Grammar School, Ebute Metta
Ø Ikorodu
Senior High School, Ikorodu.
Ø Maya
Senior High School, Ikorodu
Ø United High School, Ikorodu.
To
some degrees, imperfections characterize human activities and this research is
no exception to this shortcoming. It must be remarked that the expressed first
limitation was the unwillingness of the respondents to divulge (reveal)
information(s) on the subject of this study, they were really not enthusiastic
about any request for data.
Nevertheless,
the envisaged (i.e foreseen) limitations, to the study through daunting,
constituted the following problems of the study.
They
were specifically as follows:
2
Cost of executing the project study
3
Inadequate time for study and writing
4
Inadequate relevant books and journals
5
Inadequate response by prospective; and
6
Return of incomplete questionnaires by
respondents
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Indices:
are also called index which is the number that indicates the location of the
variables in a list or array of numbers or other mathematical object. This type
of index is usually written as a subscript to the variable (1). Index set are
the set of the indices themselves e.g (1234)
Ø Index
family- the list or array e.g. *1 *2 *3 *4
Ø Index
set- the set of the indices themselves e.g. 1,2,3,4
Ø Index
(information technology) – a corresponding concept in a formation technology.
Laws
of Indices: These are rules guiding the major tools needed for
the solutions to problems in indices.
Power: Is the number outside the brackets raises
everything inside the brackets to power.
Logarithms:
Logarithms is a number is the power to which 10 is raised to give that number.
Although logarithms may be
defined with any base, the Log most often encountered are the logarithm to base
10 which is called the common logarithm and thus, a logarithm is another word
for “Power”. E.g. y = 10 log 10.
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