CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The role of Mathematics in the understanding of the foundations and structure of Science, technological advancement, economical development as well as in the understanding of inter-relationship between disciplines is very important. Also, Mathematical methods have strongly penetrated many fields of knowledge and human endeavor (Adelusi, 2006; Adebule, 2009; Ayoola, 2015). Mathematics is a compulsory subject in all primary and secondary schools in Nigeria. As important as this subject is, pupils performances in it has been alarmingly poor. Pupils are expected to perform in all aspect of Mathematics to aid some development in science and technology. However, pupils are biased that Mathematics is a difficult subject to understand and this is transferred to the classroom teaching, consequently, subjects where an aspect or element of Mathematics is not perfectly learnt. Also needed such as physics, chemistry, geography and mathematics are not perfectly learnt.
Also, it has been observed that teaching and learning difficulties in Mathematics may be traced to abstract nature of the subject, language problem, pupils’ attitude towards the subject, pupil inability to visualize correctly, lack of mathematical models, teachers’ attitude towards the concepts and lack of qualified teachers. In recent years, attention was focused on the use and role of extra learning aids in Mathematics to improve pupils’ academic performance/achievement. This implies that the teaching of Mathematics without the use of extra learning aids may certainly result in poor academic performance.
Pupils get motivated when they are actively involved in the teaching learning process and this will minimize teaching of Mathematics in abstraction. Adebanjo (2007) airmed that the use of extra learning aids in teaching and learning of Mathematics makes pupils to learn more and retain better what they have been taught and that it also promotes and sustains pupils’ interest. It also allows the learners to discover themselves and their abilities. Pupils learn more when they see what they are being taught. There has been much concern expressed about the apparent fall in the standard of education at the secondary school level (Adebule, 2009). The problem of this study is that pupils are failing Mathematics at an alarming rate despite its importance. It is worth knowing that failure in this subject may hinder a pupil from being promoted to the next class or from gaining admission into a higher institution of learning for further studies.
STATEMENT OF THE GENERAL PROBLEM
Perhaps not much attention has been given to the performance of pupils in primary schools in recent years. This neglect, no doubt has relegated this cardinal subject to the background in our first school leaving certificate examination. A close look at the first school leaving certificate result records, confirms that pupils’ performance has been very poor generally and the increase number of school dropout in the area of study is a clear pointer of the theme. The poor performance is caused by many factors such as; pupils ineffective study techniques, quality of teachers and method of teaching, the parent’s inability to provide useful materials like textbooks, exercise books and school fees and problem of inadequate extra learning aids for teaching and learning of mathematics in primary schools. In philosophical view of the poor learning of mathematics in primary schools, this study therefore is specifically designed to evaluate the learning of mathematics with extra learning aid in other to enhance pupils’ academic performances in mathematics in Ikeja Local Government Area of Lagos State.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The major aim of the study is to evaluate the learning of mathematics with extra aids in other to enhance pupils’ academic performance. Other specific objectives of the study include; 1. To assess pupils academic performances in mathematics in Nigeria 2. To examine the importance of extra teaching/learning aids in pupils academic performance 3. To examine the relationship between extra aid materials and academic performance of pupils in mathematics. 4. To assess the role of teachers in the use of extra learning aids in students academic performances. 5. To recommend other ways of improving pupils academic performances in mathematics.
