5.3 Operation
5.5.3 Callbacks and pseudoclosures
1.0 INTRODUCTION
No teacher in Nigeria concerned with the teaching of mathematics at any
stage, from infants upwards and, particularly at secondary level, can honestly say to himself that all is well with the teaching of the subject.There are far too many students today who leave the secondary school wit a dislike for mathematics. Those who teach physics, chemistry or other subjects requiring the application of mathematics complain of the odious task they face. My student teachers come back to the College from teaching practice with reports of their experiences which point at
the same awareness. There exist many problems in the teaching of
mathematics.
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Great anxiety has been expressed by government, employers of labour,
parents and teachers about the fact that large numbers of students, after asecondary school course, are unable to perform many of the simple arithmetical and mathematical operations needed in their everyday life
and work. One reason we can advance is that a majority of students never get thorough understanding of the real meaning of mathematical concepts. In most cases, they are only clever in the art of manipulating
complicated sets of symbols, or they are dazed by the unpleasant situations into which the present mathematical requirements in schools
tend to place them. Eventually, they develop a common attitude – ‘get the examination over’, after which forget about mathematics. This is the position in our country now. Mathematics is generally regarded as a very difficult subject everywhere in the world. But the serious problem
in Nigeria is that very little is being done to alter this state of affairs.
There has lately been however, a certain feeling of discomfort among those concerned with the teaching of mathematics. The mumblings of discontent have been getting louder and louder, yet they have remained
only on newspaper pages without any co-ordinated plan of attack.
Similarly, there are different viewpoints about the necessity of different types of reforms in its teaching. Some take delight only in criticism for the sake of criticism. It is the joint responsibility of those concerned to bring about necessary improvement and changes. The subject has to be
popularised at all costs. With the ‘setback’ by the then Federal Commissioner for Education at the Benin Conference (1977) and also
with the newly-approved syllabus introduced, we now hope that the Mathematics Association of Nigeria will awake to the challenges of the
day. Encouragement should be given to those interested in finding solutions to these problems at all times in terms of funds for workshops,
seminars, conferences and useful researches. Various governments have been expressing their intentions to establish quality education. I believe that a thorough analysis of these problems and possible reEDUies will
place them on the correct line.
In doing so, you will be expected to consider the situations as they exist
in our schools today under the headings: historical, political, socio- cultural, economic, academic mathematical, pedagogical and
psychological.
In this unit, you will be exposed to some problems facing the teaching and learning of Mathematics not only in the Primary and Secondary level but also in all levels of mathematics education in Nigeria. Some
possible suggestions as to the solutions of these problems shall be
included.
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These problems shall be examined form the historical, political, socio- cultural, economic and academic perspectives. It should be stressed that these problems are not mutually exclusive.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
identify at least one historic problem facing the teaching of
mathematics in Nigeria.
identify at least one political problem associated with the teaching/learning of mathematics.
state and explain at least one problem facing the teaching of
mathematics arising from the social or cultural stratification of
the country.
state and explain at least two problems facing the teaching of
mathematics emanating from the economic situations of the country.
identify and explain at least six problems of academic perspective facing the teaching/learning of mathematics; and
suggest at least one solution to each of the identified problems.
3.0 MAIN BODY
3.1 STUDY APPROACH
For you to get the best out of this unit, the following procedures are recommended:
1.
2.
3.
Read through a suggested problem once, using your reflective thinking to associate this problem with your past experiences.
Jot down other problems associated with this recorded problems in this unit. At the end of the unit, send a list of such unrecorded problems to NTI and demand their comments and/or solution to them.
Make a list of all problems about mathematics published in our dailies which you come across. Compare them with the problems set out in this unit.
Note that the problem of teaching and learning mathematics in Nigeria is a dynamic one. It grows and changes from time to time and as such not all of its ramifications will be written down in this unit.
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