Department of Teacher Education
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Item Constructivism in Mathematics Classrooms: Listening to Ghanaian Teachers’ and Students’ Views(Africa Education Review, 2018-04) Ampadu, E.; Danso, A.One of the challenges of implementing a new curriculum is how to bridge the gap between the underlining principles of the curriculum and the cultural and social orientations of the society which includes teachers and students. This article reports on a study that explored how the cultural and social orientations of teachers and students can influence the implementation of a constructivist curriculum in mathematics classrooms. The data for the study came from 250 students and 41 mathematics teachers, using questionnaires, observations, and interviews. The results showed that inasmuch as mathematics teachers and their students acknowledge the importance of student’s active participation and teamwork, these practices have not been fully conceptualised into the Ghanaian mathematics classroom due to some cultural factors. Two main cultural factors were discovered from the analyses of the results. Firstly, the culture of acknowledging only correct answers in class has a negative impact on individual students’ confidence and participation during mathematics lessons. Also, the culture of teamwork is not fully accepted within Ghanaian classrooms as most students find it difficult working in groups and accepting and appreciating each other’s view. It was evident in all lessons that students were ridiculed by their peers when they provide a wrong answer to a question and this affected individual students’ participation in the classroom. Therefore, we suggested that teachers should be pro-active in promoting a classroom environment which is free from fear and intimidation to motivate students to be actively involved in the classroom discourse.Item Working together to improve the quality of mathematics education and students achievements: exploring the views of Ghanaian parents(African Research Review, 2017-01) Ampadu, E.; Butakor, P.K.; Cole, Y.Parental involvement in their children’s education and for that matter mathematics education has become one of the main areas of research interest. The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes of Ghanaian parent-students towards their children’s education and the factor that influence their participation. An exploratory survey approach was used in this study, and a 38 item semi-structured questionnaire was used for collecting data. A total of 130 parent-students from enrolled in diploma and degree programmes in three universities took part in the study. Similar to the findings from other similar studies, the majority of these parents acknowledged the importance of parental involvement and indicated their willingness to be involved in their children's education. It was, however, interesting to note that majority of these parents have never seen or had access to the two main mathematics resources used in their children’s schools: the mathematics syllabus and the mathematics textbook. In addition, the majority of these parents see the teacher as the custodian of knowledge and seem to rely over on them for the success of their children. It is recommended that school and teachers have to be proactive in designing Maths Clubs and other activities to get parents actively involved.Item Ghanaian Students in TIMSS 2011: Relationship between Contextual Factors and Mathematics Performance(African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2017-09) Butakor, P.K.; Ampadu, E.; Cole, Y.Educational effectiveness research has witnessed some growth in the last three decades because the current era of global competitiveness compels each country to train and equip its citizens with knowledge and skills that would make them successful. Researchers from different countries are investigating factors across various levels within the school system that affect students’ learning outcomes and social development. This study applies a multilevel modelling technique (Hierarchical Linear Modeling) on the TIMSS 2011 mathematics data of the Ghanaian Grade 8 students to examine which student-, classroom/teacher- and school-level variables contributed significantly to the performance of Ghanaian students in mathematics. The results indicated that the education system in Ghana is similar to other education systems where the students’ academic achievement is correlated with a set of students, classroom/teacher and school characteristics. However, unlike other educational systems, the findings of the current study suggested that the difference in students’ achievement in mathematics is mainly due to school factors. It was concluded that the poor performance of Ghanaian students in mathematics is at least partially attributable to inadequate preparation of teachers, emphasis on lower rather than higher thinking skills, inconsistent use of homework, failure to engage students in their learning, lack of progress of girls, lack of students’ interest and confidence in mathematics and students’ lower educational aspiration.