DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY STUDENTS WHEN SOLVING PROBLEMS IN DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

  • 0 Review(s)

Product Category: Projects

Product Code: 00001655

No of Pages: 96

No of Chapters: 5

File Format: Microsoft Word

Price :

$12

ABSTRACT

This project is a research work carried out to investigate into the difficulties encountered by students in solving problems when differential calculus in senior secondary schools. The population used was randomly selected from ten secondary schools in five Local Government areas of Lagos state.

A total of two hundred (200) students and ten (10) further mathematics teachers served as the respondents of this study from ten selected schools. Diagnostic test and questionnaires were designed and administered to the students. Also, questionnaires were designed and administered to the teachers.

The results of the diagnostic test were analyzed using frequency distribution and t-test. The teacher’s and students’ questionnaires were analyzed using the opinions based on each items. Findings from the study revealed that students have problem of understanding questions, they have difficulty in interpreting questions correctly. The findings equally showed that students have problem recalling formulas. It also revealed that there are insufficient teaching materials for the teaching and learning of differential calculus.

The study also revealed that there is no significant difference between male and female students’ performance when solving problems in differential calculus. Relevant recommendations were made in the light of the research findings.

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENT

                                                                                Pages

Title page                                                                          i              

Certification                                                                       ii

Dedication                                                                         iii

Acknowledgement                                                              iv

Table of content                                                                 v

List of tables                                                                      vi

Abstract                                                                            vii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.0               Background to the study                                       1

1.1               Statement of problem                                          4

1.2               Purpose of study                                                  5             

1.3               Research Questions                                              6

1.4               Research Hypothesis                                            7

1.5               Significance of the study                                      7

1.6               Scope of the study                                               8

1.7               Research Instruments                                          9

1.8               Population and Sample                                         10   

1.9               Procedure                                                            11

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0                 Introduction                                                        13

2.1                 Further mathematics                                            13

2.1.1           Objectives of Teaching further                               15

             Mathematics in the senior secondary school

2.1.2           The further mathematics curriculum                      15

2.1.3           Teaching and learning of further mathematics        18

2.1.4           The further mathematics Students                19

2.2                 Teacher Education and conditions of service           21

2.3                  Teachers‘ attitude towards mathematics and         24

              further mathematics.

2.4        Students’ attitude towards mathematics and          28

            further mathematics and it’s effect on their

             performance

2.5                 Difficulties encountered by students when solving  30

problems in some further mathematics topics aside differential calculus

2.6                  Calculus                                                             32

2.6.1            Differential calculus                                             33

2.6.2            Derivative                                                           34   

2.6.3            Calculus: An indispensable mathematics tool        35

 

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0         Introduction                                                          36

3.1      Research design                                                     36

3.2           Population and sample                                           36

3.3           Research instruments                                            37

3.4           Method of  Data Administration (Procedure)            39

3.5           Method of Data Analysis                                 40

 

CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION

                               OF DATA

4.0      Introduction                                                           41   

4.1      Results from Diagnostic test and test of hypothesis   42

4.2      Findings from the difficulties encountered by

           the students in the diagnostic test                          51

4.3      Analysis of students’ and teachers’ questionnaires    63

4.3.1   Introduction                                                           63

4.3.2   Analysis of students questionnaire                           64   

4.3.3   Analysis of teachers’ questionnaire                           66

 

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS, 

                         SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

5.0         Introduction                                                          69

5.1             Discussion of findings                                             69

5.2             Recommendations                                                  72

5.3             Recommendations for further research                     77

5.4             Summary                                                              77

5.5             Conclusion                                                             78

REFERENCES                                                                   79

APPENDIX                                                                       84

 

LIST OF TABLES

Tale 4.1  The general performance of the students in the

               diagnostic test.

Table 4.2 The scores of male and female students in the

               diagnostic test.

Table 4.3 The nature of difficulties encountered by the students in the diagnostic test.


 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0      BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

In the words of Fafunwa (1974) “Education is seen as the best means for developing the potentialities of young and adult learners so that they can in-turn make meaningful contribution to the development of the society”. As an instrument of change, it is generally recognized that no society can make any significant progress without relevant education.

 

Mathematics is one of the essential subjects taught in the school curriculum at all levels of education. It is needed in all aspect of our daily lives e.g engineering, science, agriculture, philosophy medicine etc. It is the body of knowledge centred on such concepts as quantity, structure, space and change and also the academic discipline that studies them. Benjamin Pierce (1809-1880) called it “the science that draws necessary conclusions”.

 

Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, science, computers, imaginary abstractions or elsewhere. They explore such concepts, aiming to formulate new conjectures and establish their truth by rigorous deductions from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions.

 

Through the use of abstraction and logical reasoning, mathematics evolved from counting, calculation, measurement and systematic study of the shapes and motions of physical objects. Knowledge and use of basic mathematics have always been an inherent and integral part of individual and group life.

 

In accordance with the national policy on education 1977, mathematics is regarded as a compulsory subject for every student at the secondary school level. This is attributed to the fact that mathematics is most applicable to real life situations and all academic disciplines.

 

The general objectives of mathematics at the senior secondary school level are:

-      To enable students develop further computational skills.

-      To develop the ability to think deductively.

-      To provide the mathematical background for the application of mathematics in other subjects.

-      To develop the ability to solve mathematical problems.

-      To stimulate and encourage creativity

-      To generate students’ interest in mathematics and provide a solid foundation for those who may want to continue with mathematics.

 

It has been argued by numerous mathematics teachers that the content of the curriculum is inadequate to cater for the

more- able students in mathematics. Hence, the need for the further mathematics curriculum.

 

The aims of the further mathematics syllabus as quoted from the National curriculum for senior secondary school volume 5, of the Federal Ministry of Education are:

-      To help the students develop further conceptual and manipulative skills, and its application.

-      To provide an additional intermediate course of study that bridges the gap between elementary mathematics and higher mathematics.

-      To meet the needs of potential mathematicians, engineers, scientists and other professionals such as business administrators, and architects.

 

Further mathematics curriculum has three major components, which include pure mathematics, mechanics and statistics. Differential calculus belongs to the pure mathematics family. The content of differential calculus includes differentiation of explicit, algebraic, circular, logarithm, implicit functions and its application.

 

Hence, providing the panacea to the difficulties encountered by students when solving problems in differential calculus will go a long way to improve and enhance the scientific and technological advancement of the society.

 

1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM       

Differential calculus being one of the branches of mathematics with varied application, in physical sciences, engineering, medicine, computer sciences, business administration etc ought to be properly taught to the students. However, students are faced with difficulties when solving problems in differential calculus over the years, and this leaves much to be desire. This could be as a result of:

-      Lack of problem solving technique

-      Neglect of application of pre-requisite topics such as indices, logarithm, exponentials, simplifications, factorization polynomials, trigonometry functions etc.    

 

1.2 PURPOSE OF STUDY   

As explained above, the difficulties encountered by students when solving problems in differential calculus needs to be studied vividly. Therefore, the study is aimed at:

-      To ascertain students’ level of performance in differential calculus.

-      To investigate the difficulties students encounter when solving problems in differential calculus.

-      To find out the factors that contributes to the difficulties encountered by students when solving problems in differential calculus.

-      To proffer and recommend workable solutions to the difficulties identified during the course of this study.       

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS            

To achieve the objectives of this study, an attempt was made to provide answers to the following questions:

-      What is the students’ level of performance in differential calculus?

-      What are the difficulties encountered by students when solving problems in differential calculus?

-      What factors contribute to the difficulties encountered by students when solving problems in differential calculus?

-      Do students show positive attitude towards the learning of differential calculus?

-      Is there any justification for the inclusion of differential calculus as a topic in further mathematics?

-      Do teachers make use of enough instructional materials in teaching differential calculus?

-      Is there difference between the mathematical achievement of senior secondary school two (SSS 2) male and female students in differential calculus?

-      How can the difficulties encountered by students when solving problems in differential calculus be minimized?

 

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS          

The hypothesis below will be tested during the course of this study.

H0:        There is no significant difference between male students’ performance and female students’ performance when solving problems in differential calculus.

H1:        There is significant difference between male students’ performance and female students’ performance when solving problems in differential calculus.

H0 will be tested against H1 at 5% level of significance.

 

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 

The study will focus on:

-      Providing dependable solutions to problems associated with the teaching and learning of differential calculus.

-      Guiding the teachers in the effective teaching of differential calculus.

-      Encouraging proper learning approach in the study of differential calculus.  

 

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

The study will be carried out in five local Government Area in Lagos State (Somolu LGA, Mainland LGA, Agege LGA, Kosofe LGA, Surulere LGA). It will cover ten randomly selected senior secondary schools and they will be the representation sample for the whole Local Government Area.

 

The data will be collected from senior secondary school two (S.S 2) students, a total of 200 students, that is, 20 students randomly selected from all existing arms of S.S. 2 classes in each secondary school.

 

A more comprehensive research work will entail visit to all schools in every Local Government Area and administration of test to all the SS 2 students in each school. But due to time factor and financial constraint, a random sample as stated above will be used.

 

 

 

 

1.7 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS  

The following instruments will be used in the course of this study:

-      Students’ Diagnostic test on differential calculus.

-      Questionnaire for students

-      Questionnaire for teachers.

The student’s diagnostic test on differential calculus shall consist of five theory questions selected to cover all aspects of differential calculus and its applications.

 

In accordance with S.S.2 further mathematics syllabus, the questions will cover areas on:

-      Differentiation from first principle

-      Function of a function

-      Differentiation of algebraic functions.

-      Differentiation of exponential functions.

-      Differentiation of inverse functions.

-      Differentiation of logarithm functions.

-      Differentiation of trigonometry functions.

-      Implicit differentiation.

-      Higher derivative.

-      Application of differential calculus         

The questions will be set to identify areas of students’ understanding or areas of teachers ineffective teaching and to find out specifically how much of the concepts the students understand. Time duration of one hour thirty minutes will be given. Objectives will be avoided since the focus is on ascertaining the errors students make when solving problems in differential calculus.

 

The questionnaire for students will be open-ended, and will consist of 5 well-structured items will be administered. For teachers’ questionnaire, 4 well structured items will be administered, and will also be open-ended. These questionnaires will be designed to investigate some of the difficulties that occur in the teaching and learning of differential calculus in  senior secondary schools (SS2 Students).

 

1.8 POPULATION AND SAMPLE

The population under study will be students and teachers selected from schools in five Local Government Areas of Lagos State (Somolu LGA, Mainland LGA, Agege LGA, Kosofe LGA, Surulere LGA).

 

A random sample of ten schools will be selected from the State Local Government Areas as the representation sample. A total of two hundred students will be used as the respondents and ten further mathematics teachers will be used (one from each school). The students will be randomly selected with quota sampling of twenty students from each of the schools. The students will be from Senior Secondary School two (SSS2) classes.

 

1.9 PROCEDURE     

Two hundred students will be randomly selected from ten schools with twenty students from each school. The twenty students will be selected from each of the schools and the students’ diagnostic test will be administered. With adequate invigilation, the students will be made to solve the problems by showing the workings to each question in their answer scripts.

 

Questionnaire will also be administered to the students and the teachers so as to gather more information on the difficulties encountered by students when solving problems in differential calculus. After administration, all data will be gathered for analysis.


Click “DOWNLOAD NOW” below to get the complete Projects

FOR QUICK HELP CHAT WITH US NOW!

+(234) 0814 780 1594

Buyers has the right to create dispute within seven (7) days of purchase for 100% refund request when you experience issue with the file received. 

Dispute can only be created when you receive a corrupt file, a wrong file or irregularities in the table of contents and content of the file you received. 

ProjectShelve.com shall either provide the appropriate file within 48hrs or send refund excluding your bank transaction charges. Term and Conditions are applied.

Buyers are expected to confirm that the material you are paying for is available on our website ProjectShelve.com and you have selected the right material, you have also gone through the preliminary pages and it interests you before payment. DO NOT MAKE BANK PAYMENT IF YOUR TOPIC IS NOT ON THE WEBSITE.

In case of payment for a material not available on ProjectShelve.com, the management of ProjectShelve.com has the right to keep your money until you send a topic that is available on our website within 48 hours.

You cannot change topic after receiving material of the topic you ordered and paid for.

Ratings & Reviews

0.0

No Review Found.


To Review


To Comment