Teachers’ Beliefs and Actual Practice of Problem Solving Approach in Teaching Mathematics (With Particular Reference to Grades 9 and 10 in West Gojjam)

Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ beliefs and actual classroom practices of problem-solving teaching in mathematics at grade nine and ten. More specifically, the study assessed teachers’ confessed beliefs about the application of problematic situations, contextualizing of the lesson and application of heuristic methodin teaching mathematics and their actual practices in the classroom.Out of nine high schools found in Awi Zone, five of them were randomly selected. In these schools, there are 26 mathematics teachers teaching at grade nine and ten level and all of them were included in the study. Questionnaire and observation checklist adapted from Hamza (2007) were used to collect data. The questionnaire included both close ended and open ended items. The observation checklist constitutes similar itemswith that of questionnaire. Percentage, t-test and descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the data. The results indicated that teachers have low level beliefs regarding the use of problemsolving teaching method. This result has also been ascertained through observation. There exists high correlation between teachers’ confessed beliefs and their actualclassroom practices in applying problem-solving teaching method.It is found out that teachers are employing traditional teaching methods in teaching mathematics at grade nine and ten. The responses from open ended questions indicated that they conceived problem solving as the step in teaching mathematics after students have mastered basic facts and concepts.