TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF TEACHING METHODS FOR TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ESAN NORTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA EDO STATE

ABTRACT

This study examined teachers’ perception of teaching methods for mathematics in senior secondary schools in Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. The teaching methods focused on in the study were demonstration and lecture teaching methods. The objectives of the study were to determine the level of teachers’ perception between demonstration and lecture teaching methods in teaching mathematics, in general terms and in light of gender, level of education and years of experience. The study used a sample of 40 teachers from the ten public senior secondary schools in Esan north east LGA, Edo State, Nigeria. The instrument used for data collection was a self-developed questionnaire measuring teachers' perception between the use of demonstration and lecture methods in teaching mathematics in senior secondary schools in Esan North East LGA of Edo state. The questionnaire had a reliability index of 0.82. To analyze the data collected, the research questions were answered using descriptive statistics such as simple frequency, mean and standard deviation. The first and second hypotheses were tested using the T-test, while the third and fourth hypotheses were tested using the chi-square. The results indicated that the teachers perceived demonstration method more highly than the lecture method, irrespective of their qualification, gender or years of experience. Based on the results of this study, it was recommended that Secondary school principals should emphasize the use of demonstration method in teaching Mathematics. Also, School administrators should organize in-service training and retraining for their Mathematics teachers in their schools so as to enable them develop more interactive styles in the teaching of the subject.