Investigating the Level of Mathematical Concepts Development in Pre-Primary Schools in Oredo Local Government Area

Abstract

Mathematics is the building blocks on which other subjects (mostly the sciences) are laid on. But many pupils find it very difficult to comprehend. More so, a good mastery of the concept of mathematics at the pre-primary level will form a solid background for the pupils when they proceed to the primary and secondary level. This has been the reason why mathematics is given prominence in the school curriculum and timetable. For some time now, there has been a growing concern over the poor teaching and learning of mathematics with the resultant - poor and falling standard in secondary school student performance in mathematics. These failures may be caused by the little or no development of early childhood mathematics in schools. This study, therefore, investigates the level of mathematics concepts development of pre-primary school pupils in Oredo local government area of Edo state. The descriptive survey method was adopted, and the population comprises all public and private pre-primary school pupils and teachers in Benin Metropolis. Three hundred pupils and sixty teachers from thirty public and thirty private pre-primary schools in Oredo local government area were randomly sampled. The mathematics competency test was the instrument for data collection. The instrument was validated and the Kuder-Richardson reliability was estimated and it gave a value of 0.76. The data were analyzed using mean. The hypotheses were tested using the independent sample t -test. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that the development of mathematical concepts by pre-primary school pupils was moderate; and that a significant difference existed between male and female pupils, between public and private school pupils, and between pupils in rural and urban pre-primary schools. Considering the results of the study, provision of physical, instructional, learning, and human resources that will enhance pupils’ development of mathematical concepts was recommended.