THE GOALS OF MATHEMATICS AND THE FEAR THEREIN By Fortune Obikwere The study of mathematics was justified on the basis of mental discipline; that mathematics was especially suited to developing certain reasoning faculties in the mind. It was believed that mathematics trained the general powers of reasoning so well that they would be transferred and used in various context even outside mathematics. Mathematics is said to be the basis for all scientific and technological development of any nation. Some of the accepted goals of mathematics education might be said to include; the building of understanding of basic mathematics through discovery and practical methods; and to associate it with the experience of the pupils. In the present Nigerian system of secondary and primary education, mathematics is compulsory. It is regarded as one of the core subjects which every student or pupil has to do. It is not among the group of elective subjects as stated in the Nigerian philosophy of Education, 1981 (Revised). This means that every person has to study the subject. It also shows how important mathematics is to the overall development of a Nigerian child educationally. Furthermore, a student in the 3-3 secondary education system can only move from junior secondary to the senior one when he or she have passed mathematics (and English language) in the final examinations. Having cited the goals of mathematics and the importance, the Federal Government attached to it, it becomes reasonable to know why some students do not do well in it, especially in public examinations. It is worthy to note here that many students fear mathematics in our secondary schools. The researcher in view of the above is carrying out a study of the contributing to this fear of mathematics, otherwise called mathematics phobia among students of secondary schools. Availability of teaching aids, methods involved in teaching it, motivation, hatred, and evaluation techniques, just to mention but a few, may have contributed to the present mathematics phobia among our students. In order to achieve the objective of this study, a number of questions arises; Do secondary school students fear or not fear mathematics? What are their reasons for so doing? We continue from here next time or visit my blog: mathematicsclinics.blogspot for details of this.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 11:34:06 +0000
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