Abstract
Helping junior high school students to use calculators and computers for problem solving and investigating real-life situations is an objective of the junior high school mathematics curriculum in Ghana. Ironically, there is a technological drought in junior high school mathematics instruction in Ghana, with a suspicion that mathematics teachers’ competency in the use of calculators for teaching may be the source of this lack of use. This study sought to establish a correlation between junior high school mathematics teachers’ competence and the motivation supporting the use of calculators in teaching. A descriptive survey comprising of a test and questionnaire was used to collect data from junior high school mathematics teachers in an educational district in Ghana. Teacher characteristics such as educational attainment, age, and gender in relation to teachers’ competency in the use of calculators were discussed in the study. The results showed that about 70% of the teachers exhibited a low level of calculator competence. Besides, novice teachers outperformed expert teachers in the calculator competency-based test. Additionally, mathematics teachers’ enthusiasm for using calculators in teaching was directly associated with the teachers’ level of competency. The findings may send a signal to stakeholders in their efforts to revising the Ghana JHS curriculum in order to actualize the curriculum desire for the integration of technology in the teaching and learning of JHS mathematics.
Highlights
Calculators, just as any technological tool, have become an integral part of teaching and learning mathematics in Ghana (Ministry of Education, 2007) and elsewhere in Africa (Ochanda & Indoshi, 2011)
The results showed that about 70% of the teachers exhibited a low level of calculator competence
Teachers’ teaching experience with respect to the number of years of teaching basic school mathematics was classified into three categories. These are novice teachers, those who had at most three years of teaching, intermediate teachers were those who had taught for a period between 4 and years, and expert teachers were teachers with at least years of teaching junior high schools (JHS) mathematics
Summary
Calculators, just as any technological tool, have become an integral part of teaching and learning mathematics in Ghana (Ministry of Education, 2007) and elsewhere in Africa (Ochanda & Indoshi, 2011). The technology principle of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ asserts that “Technology is essential in teaching and learning of mathematics; it influences the mathematics that is taught and enhances students’ learning” The document further promotes calculators and other technologies as essential mathematical tools to the extent that using calculators has become both an innovation and an aid to entering the technological world. A teacher’s ability to engage appropriately with this technological tool depends on his/her knowledge and skill about. Junior high school mathematics teachers’ knowledge in calculators. JRAMathEdu (Journal of Research and Advances in Mathematics Education), 5(1), 80-93.
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