Mathematics teachers’ perceived knowledge and practice for teaching problem-solving in public junior high schools in Berekum West District

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.