Evaluation of the Content of Math Courses at the Faculty of Education- Sana’a University in light of Quality Standards

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the availability of quality standards pertinent to mathematical thinking styles, objectivity and creative problem solving in math courses at the Faculty of Education, Sana’a University. To achieve this, the descriptive analytical method was used. Checklists for analyzing the math content were developed and a questionnaire was used to check their validity. The instuments were applied to a smple of four courses of the 3rd and 4th levels. The study results revealed that the total weights of deductive and inductive mathematical thinking were 69.66% and 30.34% respectively. This percentage covered the quality of thinking styles being comprehensively represented in all the courses as follows: correlational thinking style, the highest type, scored 65.43%; thinking style using symbols scored 20.61%; other styles of mathematical thinking were represented in the content by varied percentages, ranging from 0% to 10.78%. These other styles include reflective, systematic, strategic, critical, accurate and creative thinking styles. The course content lacked creative problem solving questions. Further, the results of the Chi-square test showed statisitically significant differences at 0.01 regarding the quality standards of mathematical thinking, objectivity and creative problem solving. This means that the courses do not achieve the quality standards of developing thinking styles and creative problem solving among student-teachers.