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Mathematics is not just computation but a LOL for understanding structures, relationships and patterns to produce solutions for complex real life problems which means mathematics is a necessity for people of all ages to be successful in life Throughout the years, it is often seen that Mathematics is the subject that students find hard getting good grades, especially among High school students. Longest (2003) reveals that Filipino students excel in knowledge acquisition but fare considerably low. In lessons requiring higher order thinking skills.
This disappointing condition is evident in the performance of students in national and international rivers on mathematics and science competencies. Therefore, identifying factors that affect Mathematics grades is important to effectively asses the freshmen students performance in mathematics. Statement of the problem It is the main concern of this research to determine how the students perceived in Mathematics as part of their curricular requirements. What are the factors that may have caused it, and how much contribution do these factors have on it.
In particular, this study seeks to find answers to the following queries: 1 . What are the factors that influence students’ grades in mathematics 2. What relationship exists between the Q. . T students’ grades in mathematics with their demographic factors such as age, sex, religion and educational background and how much contribution do these factors have on students’ grade in mathematics. 3. Which component in mathematics needs improvement? 4. What are the differences between the perceptions of the freshmen students from different colleges in mathematics?
Objectives of the study Generally, this study aims to determine the perceptions of students in mathematics, The factors associated with such perception, as well as to assess the contribution of these factors to the variation in mathematics. . To determine factors that influence students’ grades in mathematics. 2. To determine whether the demographic factors of the students such as age, sex, religion and educational background have significant relationship and contribution with students’ grades. 3.
To determine the extent each component contributes to the variation in students’ grades in mathematics. 4. To determine which component in mathematics needs improvement as perceived by the students. 5. To compare the perceptions of students from the different colleges on the components in mathematics. Importance of the study These findings were consistent with the basic proposition that he effects of classroom factors are differentiated within the classroom. Major findings indicate the variation in mathematics performance was found to be significantly influenced by the type of teaching method.
The interactive teaching method was found to be superior to the traditional approach, especially with respect to achieve higher order cognitive skills. This study also in agreement with the finding of Abdullah (2013) that there were no significant difference in performance when when the availability of textbooks was at the students ratio level 1:1 and 1:2. Moreover, the outcome of this study may help the coordinators and facilitators Of the freshmen students identify the areas that need improvement to make it mutually beneficial and acceptable.
Limitations of the study This study was confined to the Q. I. T students enrolled in Guenon Institute of Technology year 2013 to 2014. It focused on basic fundamentals of algebra that was conducted during the said years. For every theory we teach, we should try to critically tie it to a particular application in reality and in like statistics, having proved the theories and done all the computation in courses. Operational Definition of Terms The design for this study is survey research design.
Survey research design “is probably the best method available to social scientists who are interested in collecting original data, for population is too large to observe directly’ (Debbie, 1 986, p. 204). The use of survey in the present stud) is justified since the study is descriptive and explanatory, and has individuals as the unit of analysis for assessment. Demographic factors refer to the age, sex, religion and educational background as determinants to the perceptions of students towards mathematics.
Perceptions refer o the interpretations of the freshmen students based on their actual experience with the freshmen students’ which is categorized as favorable and unfavorable. Requirements refer to the pre-planned set of activities of observable behavior and attitude of freshmen students’ complied in mathematics. Mathematics discussed refer to the subject during mathematics session II. Review of literature and related studies A number of studies have been carried out to identify and analyses the numerous factors that affect academic performance in various centers of learning.
Their findings identify students’ effort, previous schooling (Siegfried Feels, 1 979; Anderson & An analysis of some factors affecting student academic performance in 81 an introductory biochemistry course at the University of the West Indies Benjamin, 1994), parents’ education, family income (Develops & Folio, 1 996), self motivation, age of student, learning preferences (Riparian, Manhood, Archaize, Yep, & Near, 2008), class attendance (Roomer, 1 993), and entry qualifications as factors that have a significant effect on the students’ academic performance in various settings.
According to Reid (1995), learning preference refers to a person’s “natural, battle and preferred way’ of assimilating new information. This implies that individuals differ in regard to what mode of instruction or study is most effective for them. Scholars, who promote the learning preferences approach to learning, agree that effective instruction can only be undertaken if the learners learning preferences are diagnosed and the instruction is tailored accordingly (Paschal, McDaniel, Rorer, & Book, 2008). Hill and Rowe (1998) affirmed that teachers have major effect on student achievement.
Teachers quality contributes a lot in the effectiveness of the school, hence quality instruction produces high achievement. In addition, Parents’ educational attainment was found to be a significant factor in achievement of students in mathematics (Coleman, 2006; Campbell, 1995; Managerial, 2004). Parents with higher level of education could be role models for their children to perform well in mathematics. Significance of the study The study aims to recognize the factors affecting freshmen student’s grades in Mathematics.
The subject IS a powerful foundational tool for encoding information into an order and applying logical operations in a linear sequence. The problem tends to manifest when placing too much faith in numbers as concrete entities that are used to describe all things including abstract topological data Structures. The key here is to instead treat numbers as an ordered set of symbols that are only containers used to reduce a complex problem into a simple problem by way of measurement and logical comparison. In addition, the study aims to help the students become more aware of the factors that affect their performance in mathematics.
Knowing such factors can help them identify their strengths and weaknesses that constantly interfere their performance in mathematics. This will, in turn inspire the students to overcome their weaknesses and hence, results to a good performance of students toward Mathematics. This study also provides teachers teaching mathematics with a better understanding of, and a deeper insight into the needs and problems of their students which serve as a springboard for administrators to revise the mathematics curriculum that may improve mathematics instruction.
Therefore, this study provides more accurate assessment of their children’s ability, and information they need in order to properly address their children’s academic problems. Lastly, Mathematics supports Continuing Education and Careers even entry-level jobs in fields seemingly unrelated to mathematics require math skills. Cashiers must be able to count money accurately, while a customer service representative may need to be able to discuss a discrepancy in a customers bill. Students who are skilled at math and who seek a higher degree will find that high-paying careers such as engineering, medicine and research become available to them.
Students who are not interested in these careers must nonetheless have advanced math skills, as they are required to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in any field. Demographic Factors What is the relationship of demographic factors to the perceptions of the students? Good, C. , Aaron’s, J. , & linchpin, M. (2003). Improving adolescents’ standardized test performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. These interests and activities are influenced by such factors as age, sex, degree of physical and mental development, environment and social status.
Moreover, Baker (1 994, as cited in Abdullah, 201 3) described poor academic performance as any performance that falls below a desired standard. The criteria of excellence can be from 40% to 100% depending on mom subjective criteria of the evaluator or assessor. On attitudes and interests, the heads of departments and lecturers rated students’ interest very low, while students strongly agreed that their loss of interests is due to their high rate of poor performances in their previous years.
How the students perceive these factors determines the choice he make and the modes of action he take. The implication of this are far reaching considering that the development of our youth along with the social, educational, emotional and vocational dimension is not only attributed or related to given arsenal characteristics or qualities such as mental ability but also to various intervening variables such as school setting, home, condition, living arrangements the students personal services offered in the school.
According to the result obtained from this study, students’ low or high performance is due to their personality factors, the more the students improved on their self- concepts, determinations, and high interest, the better their performance in mathematics. Organizations One’s perception of a certain program will also depend on its organizations. Organizations involves a system which delineates the functions and susceptibilities of each member.
Mathematics plays a fundamental role in the scientific and technology progress of any nation, and as such, mathematics is taught at all levels of education. Greater demand for economic, scientific, and technological knowledge in the Nigerian development programmed has brought about the securing of an excellent mathematical knowledge at all levels of education. Thus, increasing knowledge in mathematics of the future engineers, physicists, chemists, sociologists, industrial and medical personnel, as well as other sciences, including historians cannot be over emphasized.
Of sad reflection over the years, Nigerian tertiary students’ achievement in mathematics at the graduation level of the first degree certificate examination has a relatively low rate. Discussing factors affecting students’ academic performance will require us to look the concept of poor performance. According to Armed (2000), poor performance is a performance that adjudged by the examinees/testes and some significant as falling below an expected standard. The interpretation of this expected or desire standard is better appreciated from the perpetual cognitive ability of the evaluator of he performance.
The evaluator or assessor can therefore give different interpretations depending on some factors. Furthermore, Nigeria and the world all over are talking about sustainable development, for which STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) cannot be set aside, nor separated from the plans to achieve sustainable development. According to Nonfat (201 2), development is a process, in which the people or the beneficiaries are actively involved in deciding what they need and how to provide for them.
In a study conducted in Nairobi at the secondary schools Team Of Mathematics Teachers, 2013), the major findings indicated that variation in mathematics performance was found to be significantly influenced by the type of teaching method. The interactive teaching method was found to be superior to the traditional approach, especially with respect to achieving higher order cognitive skills. The study also found that there was no significant difference in performance when the availability of textbooks was at the student/textbook ratio level 1:1 and 1:2.
However, ratio levels beyond 1 were found to have a negative effect on performance. Although, dents’ gender was found not to directly affect the performance of mathematics, the performance in mathematics in this study favored girls, albeit not significantly. Class size was found not to have a significant and direct influence on achievement in assignments. However, the amount of time that students spent on mathematics tasks was found to be minimum. The study indicated that a student’s attitude was a major predictor Of his/her performance.
Other factors which are of particular interest to poor performance of students in mathematical sciences department are described next. Course Programs After all, the more parents talk about fashion and politics with their children, the more these children believe that those are the important things to focus on, and when they grow up with this believe and enter university, they will not appreciate any course that has to do with mathematics, even applied mathematics in other departments.
The author has some personal experiences with some parents, in an open markets environment in the city of Port Harcourt, precisely about October 201 0, where a trader was advertising CDC (Compact Discs) containing how to learn some basic subjects, eke mathematics, chemistry, biology, physics, economics, integrated sciences, social studies and government, etc..
The author observed with keen interest, and found that parents rushing to buy some subjects but rejecting mathematics, the author forced himself into the crowd, appealed to the seller and collected the microphone, and began to announce the importance of mathematics to the audience and why they must buy mathematics CD alongside with other subjects, as if the author was a co-trader with the marketer and few of the parents responded and ordered for mathematics CDC.
Requirements and rewards Conceptual Framework The study will follow the framework of Ala (2013) who identified the factors affecting students’ academic performance in mathematics. Below are the concepts this study will follow. Low Self-concept often do students misconceive mathematics as a difficult subject. Some university students from their primary schools misconceive mathematics as a difficult subject. Having these misconceptions causes students to fail the subject.
Fears arise from previous failures, discouragements from parents who did not perform well in mathematics, harsh attitudes of lecturers, or comparison of low performing dents to the top performing students. All these can cause students to despair and give up studies in mathematical sciences. Since mindsets have been discovered to improve students’ academic achievement in mathematics (Good, Aaron’s, & Instinct, 2007). Lecturers/teachers in mathematics departments should help the students develop positive mindsets toward mathematics rather impact the fear of mathematics on our students.
Lack of Appreciation even just hearing the word ‘math’ students would immediately lose interest. Students pay little attention to mathematics when they do not appreciate its importance. Students should learn from a tender age (primary school), the importance and application Of mathematics in their life-?calculating expenses, budgeting, and sharing out items in fraction. Poor Examination Condition when taking Mathematics tests/examinations there is always a time limit that students should follow in taking the exam.
Some mathematical courses that are ascribed as faculty course(s), because of the large number of students involved, approved lecture halls for such examinations are under-size, movement from one vacant place to another causes anxiety, and it could lead to the possibility of failure. Mathematics would be shifted from to a suitable time condition for students not to feel pressured and anxious. According to Groundnut (1 985), the guiding principle in administering any classroom test was that all pupils must be given a fair chance to demonstrate their achievement of the learning outcomes being measured.
This entails that the test maker and administrator should provide the physical and psychological environments that are conducive to the testes/examinees, and also control factors that might otherwise interfere with valid measurement include adequate space (room or hall) with comfortable seats and proper lighting and ventilation. The temperature should be comfortable and the entire environment should be quite to foster concentration. The psychological environment is equally very important, students may not be at their best if they are under severe tension, anxiety, or threat during examination.
Groundnut (1985) further advised that examiners and test administrators should not over-emphasize or dramatist the importance of test and the consequences of good/poor performance while the examination is going on, as these may add to tension or anxiety in testes/examinees. As mentioned, too much tension or anxiety in students during examination leads to poor grades. Teachers/Lecturers’ Factor or student-teacher relationship. This is another factor that shows most teachers in mathematics are not as welcoming as other teachers in other subjects.
Some threatens their students giving statements such as “if you are not careful you Will failed”, “mathematics is a difficult course”, “do not expect an high score”, and “you cannot pass my subject just like that”. They lack the patience to attend to students’ questions in the class, perhaps, because most of them are untrained teachers, they only know mathematics, but they lack methods of teaching and psychological willpower to mentor their students wrought guidance and counseling for better academic achievements. Some teachers are inaccessible to students which lead to students afraid to raise a hand or ask a question during classes.
Let us know that teachers/lecturers are the primary contact that students interact with when learning, their involvement in the learning process is crucial. A lecturer’s bad attitudes, poor teaching skills, and lack of involvement with students when teaching result in poor performance. It is high time that mathematical sciences lecturers shift from theory to practical application of those theories. Instead of teaching heretical aspects of mathematics, showing its applicability in real life and everyday situation will enhance student’s interest and better performance.
Assumptions Based on the conceptual framework and objective of the study, the following assumptions are derived: 1. There are factors that influenced students’ grades in mathematics. 2. All/some needs improvement as perceived by the freshmen students. Hypotheses of the study The main hypothesis of this is that grades of the freshmen students towards mathematics is influenced by selected demographic factors; educational background; organizers/faculty and staff; 1 . The academic performance of the students in mathematical department and other institutions is not significantly high. . There is no significant difference between the academic performances of the students in both institutions. 3. There is no significant influence of availability of textbooks , teaching methods, class size, students attitude, and student-teacher interaction on academic performance of students. II. Methodology Research locale The study will be conducted on the more or less 200 freshmen students of Guenon Institute of Technology (QUIT). Research Design The study will use descriptive method in determining the factors that affect Irishmen students’ grades in Mathematics.