TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content Page
Cover Page
Title Page i
Certification ii
Declaration iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgements v
Abstract vi
Table of Content vii
– viii
CHAPTER
ONE
Introduction
Background of the study
Statement of the problem
Purpose of the study
Significant of the study
Research questions
Statement of hypotheses
Scope/
delimitations
Operational definition of terms
Limitations of the study
CHAPTER
TWO
Conceptual framework
Theoretical framework
Empirical framework
Summary
CHAPTER
THREE
Research design
Area of study
Population
Sample and sample technique
Research instrument
Validation of the instrument
Reliability of the instrument
Data collection
Data analysis
CHAPTER
FOUR
Reliability of
the questionnaire
Frequency table of the whole data
Descriptive table of the whole data
Summary.
CHAPTER
FIVE
Discussion of findings
Summary of the findings
Conclusion and recommendations
CHAPTER
ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The main aim for this study was to find
the cause that could trigger mathematics anxiety in students. This chapter
focuses on the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of
the study, significant of the study, research questions, it also deals with
scope/Delimitation of the study and operational definition of terms used in the
study, and the limitation of the study.
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY:
Mathematics
is one of the most important subjects in secondary school right from primary
education up-to the University admission level and it’s a major criteria. It is
made compulsory for all students to offer at the junior WAEC, senior WAEC and
also at the JAMB examinations before they can be admitted into any higher
education of learning in Nigeria. This is because Nigeria as a nation solely
depends upon mathematics as one of the most important subjects that could help
the nation meet her objective for science and technological advancement
(Jegede, 2002). It is a fact that some students have a very low interest in
mathematics. Students hate or dislike mathematics. Even at secondary schools
level in Nigeria students do not attend mathematics lessons (Fatola, 2005).
Most of the students do not practice mathematics on their own neither do they
solve mathematics problems on their own.
Mathematics anxiety affects student achievement and
attitude towards mathematics (Hembree, 1990). It may lead to poor performance
and avoidance of mathematics. Many people think of mathematics as a punishment
or something that induces stress (Zaslavsky, 1999). There are many causes
postulated for math anxiety. Arem (2003) equates great amounts of math anxiety
with test anxiety, and says it’s three- fold: poor test-taking strategies, poor
test preparation and psychological pressures. According to Dodd (1999), the
lack of confidence is probably the math-anxious learner’s greatest obstacle.
Zopp (1999) found that unrelated life events, trigger events in education and a
lack of support contributed to math anxiety. In addition, parents with math
anxiety pass it along to their children, while teachers with math anxiety pass
it along to their students (Fiore 1999). Preis and Biggs (2001) pointed that
male students had higher math anxiety than females, while Karimi and Venkatesan
(2009) noted that females scored higher than males. However, Lusser (1996)
failed to find a significant relationship between gender and math anxiety,
suggesting other factors such as mathematics background had to be envisaged.
According to Perry (2004) a mathematics student can seriously hamper her
or his performance by being nervous and insecure toward mathematics. Most
mathematics teachers would agree that mathematics anxiety stems primarily from
students’ fears of failure and feeling of inadequacy. In most cases,
mathematics anxiety is not extreme or overwhelming, yet it continues to haunt
most students throughout their encounter with mathematics (Usop et al.,
2001). Mathematics anxiety could also develop as a result of a student’s prior
negative experiences learning mathematics in the classroom or at home (Rossnan,
2006). A study by Vukovic, Roberts and Wright (2013) on home-school mediation
analyses demonstrated that parental home support and expectations influenced
students’ performance and reasoning by reducing their mathematics anxiety. Fears
and anxiety about maths may have more widespread consequences. If lecturers who
are anxious about maths are charged with teaching students mathematics, their
anxieties could have consequences for their students’ maths achievement. Makari
(2012) defined anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause
nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying. The fear of not being able to do
the math or the fear that it’s too hard or the fear of failure which often
stems from lack of confidence. Mathematics anxiety affects how students feel
and behave. It is common to experience moments of anxiety inside or outside a
mathematics class. For some students severe anxiety may lead to math phobia
while for others it may lead to improved achievement. Math avoidance results in
less competency, exposure and math practice, leaving students more anxious and
mathematically unprepared to achieve (Ashcraft, 2002). Students who have had
bad experiences learning math often develop this phobia and, in turn, struggle
learning various concepts because they feel they are unable to do the
mathematics.
A number of math
anxiety researchers suggest that some instructional strategies for teaching
mathematics and facilitators’ training, beliefs are some of the underlying
causes of math anxiety (Ashcraft, 2002; and Hellum, 2010). Math anxiety is
often due to poor teaching and poor experiences in math that typically leads to
math anxiety (Nebraska MATH, 2012). Russell (2008) viewed math anxiety is an
emotional, rather than an intellectual problem. However, some researchers argue
that math anxiety can interfere with a person’s ability to learn math and
therefore become an intellectual problem. Failure experiences in mathematics
and fear of future failures were also identified as the major contributing
factors to mathematics anxiety and phobia.
Having a fear or dread of mathematics, whether found in academia or
infiltrated with daily
living, leaves some people cognitively and emotionally "stuck."
Distancing themselves
from mathematics may be a preferred reaction, but doing so exacerbates their lack of mathematical confidence and competency
(Ryan, Gheen, & Midgley, 1998). By fearing math or assuming dismal results for the
effort, individuals steer their career and leisure choices so they can minimize their math
anxiety (Bankhead, 2002; Tobias, 1991).
According
to Amazigo (2000), when the option is available, many students would prefer not
to have anything to do with learning mathematics. This attitude has led them,
among other things, to achieve poorly in mathematics examinations both internal
and external. On the other hand, the recent paucity and anxiety of secondary
student in mathematics and the study of mathematics education in Universities,
Colleges of Education and Polytechnics suggests that mathematics is no longer
popular among students.
There
is no doubt that the poor achievement in the subject enhances students’ hatred
for the subject. This hatred is rooted in the fact that there is a general
tendency for students to fear mathematics whenever it is mentioned (Amazigo,
2000). Anxiety refers to a feeling of distress or alarm caused by danger or
pain that is about to happen (Tobias, 1999). In intensity it varies from a mild
sense of apprehension to paralyzing terror. In anxiety there is always the
desire to shrink, to get away or retreat from the exciting cause.
Anxiety, in general, has been challenging to define in terms of which
aspects to include in its construct. The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary
(2000) included the doubt a person has about a situation and one's capability
to adequately respond to it. The New Oxford American Dictionary (2001)
recognized the aspect of an uncertain outcome. Mathematics anxiety is
considered a state-specific form of general anxiety.
The
stimuli for anxiety are many and varied. In early infancy any sudden or intense
stimuli like loud and sudden noise, unexpected jerk, and flash of bright light
or loss of support may cause anxiety though there are large individual
differences. Any sudden change in the environment, which the individual regards
as threatening and for which he is unprepared, produces anxiety. When the
threatening situation is removed or controlled, and the danger real or
imaginary has passed, anxiety disappears. Also, as activities or experiences
expand or interests and abilities grow, the number and kinds of anxiety
increase. But as the power of adjustment through experience increases many of
childish anxiety disappear. Some anxieties are as a result of conditioning
effect. They will have to be reconditioned by attaching pleasant circumstances
and experiences with situations and objects, which causes the anxiety. Praise
or rewards attached to or associated with fearful tasks or situations will help
to reduce anxiety. There are some anxiety where the best thing to do is to act
as the anxiety suggests, that is, get away.
The
phenomenon of mathematics anxiety is variously referred to as Mathemaphobia or
Mathematics pathological fear in mathematics (Stephen, 2007). Pathological
mathematics anxiety therefore mean a behavior disorder in which an individual
becomes progressively unable to resist the impulse to fear mathematics.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
It
is widely known in Nigeria that larger number of students tends to choose non
mathematics related courses while seeking admission to higher institutions. The
number of students offering non mathematics related courses in higher
institution is more than ten times the number offering mathematics related
courses. Also maybe applicable to secondary school students, i.e. most
students
tends to go into the ART and COMMERCIAL department, sometimes due to the fear
of further mathematics and other calculation related courses/subject, and in
other not to study anything relate to mathematics and its calculation in the
nearest future, although mathematics is made a compulsory subject in secondary
education so there is no way any student can exclude this from their curriculum.
This can be related to mathematics anxiety. Students perceives mathematics as a
very difficult subject which is difficult to understand, hence they spent
little time, interest and concentration on it. However, the researcher is
examining the perception of students on the causes of mathematics anxiety among
secondary school students.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY:
The
main purpose of this study is to investigate the causes of mathematics anxiety
among secondary school students in Lagos state. Specifically this study seeks
to:
1) To
examine the perception of students on the causes of mathematics anxiety among
students of secondary school.
2) To
examine the level of mathematics anxiety among students of secondary school.
3) To
identify the solution to the problem of mathematics anxiety among students of
secondary school.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:
The
following are the significance of this study:
The
outcome of this study will educate the students of secondary school, higher
institutions and the general public on the perception of students on the causes
of mathematics anxiety among secondary school students.
This
research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the
effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby
constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
The
following research question will guide the conduct of this research:
1) What
is the perception of students on the causes of mathematics anxiety among
secondary school students?
2) What
is the level of mathematics anxiety among secondary school students?
3)
What is the level of anxiety among the
gender of secondary school students?
1.6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
The following research question will
guide the conduct of this research:
1) What is the perception of students on
the causes of mathematics anxiety among secondary school students?
2) What is
the perception of students on the effects of mathematics anxiety among students
in secondary school?
3) What is the level of mathematics anxiety
among secondary school students?
4) What is the level of anxiety among the
gender of secondary school students?
1.7 SCOPE/DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:
This
study covers the perception of students on the causes of mathematics anxiety
among secondary school students.
The
study involve five schools (all public schools) in Badagry Local Government
Area, Lagos State.
The
sample of the study comprise of 150 students, 30 students each from the schools
under study.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Perception:
the way you think about or understand someone or something, the ability to
understand or notice something easily, the way that you notice or understand
using one of your senses.
Anxiety:
fear or nervousness about what might happen, a feeling of wanting to do
something very much
1.9 LIMITATION OF STUDY:
Financial constraint-
Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing
for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of
data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint-
The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic
work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research
work.
Click “DOWNLOAD NOW” below to get the complete Projects
FOR QUICK HELP CHAT WITH US NOW!
+(234) 0814 780 1594
Login To Comment