Abstract:
Many students in our Colleges of Education have not been exposed to explore MS Excel in
solving mathematical problems. The aim of this study was, therefore, set out to explore the
various ways for teaching and learning Probability, using the MS Office Excel software
programme. The study has explored how tutors and students can use MS Excel to solve
problems in probability. The researcher integrated both qualitative (interviews and
observation instruments) and quantitative methodologies (pretest and post test instruments)
methodologies to obtain the research data. The sampling procedure was purposively
targeted on students who performed abysmally low marks in Probability as depicted from
the test results. Simple bar charts, pie charts and percentages were employed for the
qualitative data and t-tests (Paired and independent) were used for the hypotheses set to
answer the quantitative data. Thirty (30) most poorly performed students were selected for
the study; 5 from each of the 6 classes. Simple programs in MS Excel such as random
sampling, binomial sampling, one way tables and two way tables were taught. The results
showed that the performance of the students in Probability did not depend on whether
his/her former school was mixed or single-sex, he/she had former school had ICT training
or not, he/she had experience in Excel or not, and one was a male or a female. That is, on
the whole, the performance of each student had improved significantly after MS Excel was
used. The conclusion was that, integration of any kind when considering the introduction
of MS Excel software program in the teaching and learning of Probability did not hinder
performance of the students. The study in particular, would help policy makers, especially,
the Ghana Education Service (GES) to include Information Communication Technology
(ICT) at all levels of education
Description:
A DISSERTATION IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION,
FACULTY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION. SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF
RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION,
WINNEBA, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION (MATHEMATICS),
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA
MAY, 2009