2.1. Importance of Mathematics
Every
individual require the knowledge of mathematics to function effectively
and efficiently in today’s world irrespective of his/her job or
profession. Daily, people are confronted with varied demands for
mathematical competence. The housewife for instance frequently needs
halving, doubling or tripling recipes consisting of such measures as 11/2
cups, 1¼ teaspoon, ¾ cups etc. She also needs to prepare family budget
for food and other items that would be needed in the house. She needs to
compare costs and decide which article to purchase and which not to.
All of these situations require ample mathematical knowledge for wise
decisions to be made.
Nurses or Medical personnel have a lot to do with mixing substances
of different strengths. They therefore should know relative sizes,
volumes, weights and capacities of bottles. Business men and women also
make considerations about fast selling goods to purchase and decide on
price cut for slow moving items. Besides, they study increase in sales
as a result of advertisement and compare that with the cost of
advertisement. The bus or truck driver, carpenter, painter, brick-layer,
gardener, farmer, etc all have to put up with a lot of mathematical
processes on quantitative situations. The value of mathematics in all
fields of learning such as engineering, medicine, architecture,
agriculture, etc., can also not be over emphasized.
Mathematics encourages the habit of self-reliance and assists learners to think and solve their problems themselves [2].
All mathematical topics, beyond computational skills, also have one
good habit or trait they inculcate to the students. Topics in geometry,
for instance, demand some amount of logical reasoning and analytical
thinking from individuals so that they can be able to establish a
relationship between known and required facts. Such topics and others in
algebra help people to reason logically and to realize that facts can
be utterly established, and so consequently develop the habit of
desiring and demanding that in their affairs with others. Proofs also
help learners to reason deductively and so are able to apply that
knowledge in deducing the cause/effect of things that happen around them
and within their environment. They can therefore react with
understanding, for instance, to claims made by the media, their leaders
or even the government on any issue.
Furthermore, mathematics is an exact and precise body of knowledge.
The procedure by which the final answer is arrived at may be different,
but the answer remains the same. There is therefore no half truth in
mathematics. A statement is either true or false and an answer is either
correct or not correct and can be verified by a reverse process.
Accuracy and exactness are thus the pillars on which mathematics stands.
It is a subject that cannot be learnt through vagueness of thought or
argument. It therefore trains and disciplines the mind. A student of
mathematics learns the value of accuracy and adopts it as a principle of
life. Knowledge of mathematics, thus, promotes the habit of accuracy,
logical, systematic and orderly arrangements of facts in the individual
learner .
Mathematics equally helps to develop proper moral attitude in
individuals as there is no place for biased feelings, no place for
dishonesty and it trains people to observe rules, respect procedures and
value time.
In mathematics also, learners are challenged to make discoveries of
mathematical relationships. These discoveries lead them to analyze and
interpret their experiences and to make generalizations which they can
subsequently apply in new situations. Mathematics equally exposes
learners to different ways of solving the same problem. So, the ability
to tackle real life problems through different procedures is a habit
that is acquired with the study of mathematics.
Commenting on the importance of mathematics,
stated that mathematics is the one skill everyone needs to master in
life. According to him, even if it is the only one, one will at least be
able to live without being cheated, robbed or abused. In his view,
people need mathematics in their everyday lives and cannot live or
survive without it, as just doing the basic essentials is dependent on
one’s ability to do mathematics.
So, apart from the importance of higher level mathematics in bringing
about the realization of the goals of science and technology for a
country, mathematics taught at the lower levels of Nigerian educational
system are also there to help build reasonable, thoughtful and
productive citizens. Emphasis on sound mathematical knowledge for pupils
and students in primary and secondary schools is therefore for them to
be able to reap the benefits of the acquisition of mathematical skills,
live a better life and also be in a better position to directly or
indirectly contribute to the development of the society and to the
world’s economy .
2.2. Nigerian Students’ Attitude towards Mathematics
It is
particularly disappointing to find that mathematics has remained one of
the least successful subjects in Nigerian schools despite its
importance, and also despite the time it receives in an average school
system. Many students have the obnoxious notion that mathematics
learning is an unattainable task. Not many school children have interest
in the subject even right from the primary school level. A great
majority of students believe that mathematics competence is reserved for
a selected few. Unfortunately, many adults also share this same
feeling.
It is common to have Nigerian adults declare their lack of competence
in mathematics publicly without any feeling of shame whatsoever.
Indeed, most adults with a little prompting tell how much they hated
mathematics while in school and how they never did well in the subject.
Why weakness in mathematics is thought not to be a problem or something
anyone should be ashamed of is however an enigma. Perhaps it is because
of the perception that majority of people fall within that group and so
being among the majority is acceptable, or maybe because many people do
not seem to realize the importance of the subject and of its knowledge.
With this kind of attitude towards mathematics displayed by the adult
members of the society- parents, siblings and even some teachers,
people that should be the ones to call the students to order, it is
therefore not a surprise that students continue to display lack of
mathematical knowledge and perform poorly in examinations in the subject
especially in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination
(WASSCE), taken after secondary education.
presented a statistical analysis of students’ performance in
mathematics in WASSCE conducted between 2000 and 2006, data they
obtained from the WAEC Department of Research and Statistics, and it
showed that no year recorded up to 40% credit pass throughout the period
in question. A more recent analysis presented by
which covered up to 2011 also showed that students’ performance has not
yet significantly improved. The percentage of students that passed the
subject at credit level from 2007-2011 still fell between 30 and 47
percent except in 2008 that the percentage got up to approximately 57%.
This poor performance trend of students in mathematics is however not
peculiar to Nigeria.
stated that many African countries face common problems of poor
performance of students in mathematics and science education. Indeed,
reported that last year 224,635 of South African’s matriculated
students wrote mathematics and fewer than half of these (43%) passed
with at least 30%, less than 20% scored 50% or more and they described
the situation as a cause for concern.
consequently stressed the need for African countries to strengthen the
capacity of teachers to teach mathematics and science effectively.
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