Abstract:
This study explored public Junior High School Mathematics teachers’ perceived
knowledge and practice for teaching problem-solving, their problem-solving
instructional strategies, how they engage pupils in problem-solving and measures to
improve the teaching of problem-solving in the Berekum West District in the Bono
Region of Ghana. The study employed Polya’s problem-solving models to develop a
conceptual framework for the teachers’ perceived knowledge, practice of problemsolving,
engagement of pupils in problem-solving and measures to improve the
teaching of problem-solving. Four research questions were formulated to guide the
study. The study employed a sequential explanatory research design and used the
census technique to collect data from all the 80 Junior High School Mathematics
teachers for the quantitative phase and trimmed the number down to only five
teachers for the qualitative phase. The research main instruments used for the study
were questionnaire (structured), interview guide and observation guide. Questionnaire
data were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean & standard
deviation). The qualitative data were analysed thematically. Thus, the interviews were
subjected to interpretive thematic analysis and the observations were also subjected to
content analysis. The results revealed that public Junior High School Mathematics
teachers in the Berekum West District have a good perceived knowledge for teaching
problem-solving in general. Besides, majority of the respondents agreed that
Mathematics problem-solving task pupils to reason logically and critically. Also, the
results suggested that even though public Mathematics teachers in the Berekum West
District have a good perceived knowledge of problem-solving, they moderately used
problem-solving instructional strategies. In terms of pupils’ engagement in problemsolving,
the results revealed a high mean score for manipulative materials than the
other kinds of pupils’ engagement. In conclusion, public Junior High School
Mathematics teachers in the Berekum West District were inactive in engaging pupils
in problem-solving. It was therefore recommended that District Directorate of
Education should focus on regular teacher collectives where Mathematics teachers
will meet to share ideas, solve problems, discuss ways of teaching Mathematics
through problem-solving.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Basic Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree of Master of Philosophy (Basic Education) in the University of Education, Winneba
NOVEMBER, 2020