Junior High School Mathematics Teachers’ Perceived Knowledge of Problem-Solving and Practices of Teaching Mathematics Through Problem-Solving in the Tamale Metropolis

Abstract

This study focused on public JHS mathematics teachers’ perceived knowledge about problem-solving and the extent to which mathematics teachers employed problem-solving strategies. The sequential explanatory research design was adopted for this research. The study sample consists of eighty-six JHS mathematics teachers in the Tamale metropolis. Means and standard deviations were used to analyse the quantitative data. The thematic analysis was done on the qualitative data after it was transcribed. The results demonstrated that even though JHS mathematics teachers have good knowledge about problem-solving, they moderately used problem-solving instructional strategies in their lessons and highly used task-based instruction and cooperative learning strategies. Therefore, the researcher recommends a new paradigm of training teachers on problem-solving strategies for public JHS mathematics instruction. The headteachers must ensure that mathematics teachers are supervised and motivated to use problem-solving methods to enhance students’ academic performance in mathematics