Cognitive Challenges to Effective Teaching and Learning: Perspectives of Senior High School Teachers

Abstract

This study investigated cognitive challenges to effective teaching in Senior High Schools in Gomoa East District. The study was quantitative research that adopted the descriptive cross-sectional survey design. In total, 110 SHS teachers were selected for the study. Data were collected through a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Descriptive (Mean and Standard Deviation) and inferential statistics (MANOVA) was used to analyse the data that were obtained. The study’s result showed that the cognitive challenges to effective teaching are student mental mindset, metacognition, and self-regulation, student fear and mistrust, insufficient prior knowledge, misconceptions, ineffective learning strategies, transfer of learning, constraints of selective attention and constraints of mental effort and working memory. Also, it was found that there was no statistically significant difference in the perceptions of teachers about the cognitive challenges to effective teaching based on their sex, teaching experience and school proprietorship.It was recommended that irrespective of the teaching methods SHS teachers might choose to use, they should consider each of the challenges because each one can affect learning.