The Beauty of Mathematics: Learning Mathematics by Questioning

Mathematics problems may seem to have no real use in life, but this could be further from the truth. The use of mathematics is everywhere in our daily lives and, without discovering it; we apply mathematics ideas, as well as the skills we learn from executing mathematical challenges every day. Unfortunately, mathematics feedback at national examinations is deficient. A mean of between 23 to 29 percent for 5 years in a row from 2014 to 2018 is a clear indication that the training of students today for tomorrow’s workplace with concept development in context, problem solving through interactive experiences and understanding through application is missed. Over this period, the evaluation of the outcome has also shown a standard deviation almost equal to the mean or even greater than the mean for instance 2016 for paper 2 (refer to Kenya National Examinations Council Report) is a clear sign that there is a big disparity from the mean and a likelihood of a number of students scoring zeros or below 10 percent. This dismal performance in national examinations particularly in mathematics demonstrates that contextual curricula and instructions that encourage numerous structures of learning like relating, transferring, applying, experiencing and collaborating are not achieved. Therefore, this article looks into different contexts in which students learn and how they broaden their abilities to make connections, enjoy discovery, and apply the knowledge learnt. These are abilities they will need throughout their daily lives and careers. Being able to do arithmetic is of little ultimate use to an individual unless he or she can apply it. Each arithmetic operation is explored in detail for its applications in the real world problems. Real life challenges motivate ideas and provide additional settings for practice.

WhatsApp for Educational Purposes: Exploring Omani English Language Teachers` WhatsApp Use and Corresponding Beliefs

A growing body of research accentuates the potential of adopting social media platforms, including instant messaging applications in formal learning. This study aims to explore Omani English language teachers' use of WhatsApp in their teaching as well as their perspectives regarding its use. Twelve Omani English language teachers from various government schools were interviewed and a number of WhatsApp artifacts were collected. The data was analyzed using Thematic Content Analysis and focused on both the teachers’ beliefs and their use of the software. The study revealed that teachers’ employed WhatsApp for a number of educational purposes such as managing their classes, communicating with parents, improving particular language skills and providing ongoing assistance to support in-home learning. In addition, WhatsApp emerged as a means of developing and maintaining a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) in the participants' professional contexts which allowed for sustained continuous professional development of the participants. The research uncovered largely positive views regarding WhatsApp use to facilitate both English language teaching and promote out-of-class learning. The participants confirmed the user-friendly and practical aspects of the application which facilitates both teaching and learning processes. The practical implications of these findings are to support teachers in their agentive role and allow for the bottom-up mobile technology-reliant initiatives that support achieving educational results.

Awareness and Utilization of Library Services among Secondary School Students in Yenagoa LGA of Bayelsa State

Library services are vital services that form an integral part of the learning and training process of children. Despite its integral role in the education of an individual, there have been reports of poor utilization of library services around the world. This study thus set out to determine the level of awareness of library services, the utilization of library services as well as the factors affecting utilization of these services among secondary school students in Yenagoa LGA of Bayelsa State. The descriptive research design was employed in conducting this study among junior secondary two and senior secondary one and two students of government secondary schools located within the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. A sample size of 391 was used. The study instrument was a semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire that consisted of four sections. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and relationships between variables were statistically tested using the chi-squared bivariate analytical test. Statistical significance was set at the 0.05. The overall level of awareness regarding library services in this study was found to be low with a grand mean of 2.01 out of 4. The level of use of library services was found to be low (mean: 2.29). Certain factors both affected library services utilization to both high and low extents. The respondents’ gender as well as the level of provision of library services was significantly related with the utilization of library services. It was concluded that awareness of library services as well as the utilization of these services by secondary school students was low. It was recommended that the provision of required books, reading materials and lacking resources in these schools be made to foster library usage among students in these schools.

Institutional Quality and Industrial Growth: A Causality Analysis

The research study investigates the causal links between institutional quality and industrial output growth in Nigeria for the periods 1996:Q1-2018:Q4. Institutional quality was delineated into three i.e. economic institution (government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption), financial institution (contract intensive money, lending rate, and financial deepening), and political institution (voice and accountability, and political stability and absence of violence). The study computed the Granger causality test using both the VECM and the Toda and Yamamoto [1] and Dolado and Lutkepohl [2] (TYDL) augmented VAR procedure. The causality result in the short run showed that none of the institutional quality variables have a causal effect on industrial output growth but the feedback was reported. In the long run, a bi-causal relationship was reported from government effectiveness, control of corruption, financial deepening, and voice and accountability to industrial growth, whereas, a one-way directional relation was found running from industrial growth to regulatory quality and political stability & absence of violence. Thus, there is a need for the government to intensify efforts towards improving the extent people can challenge her power and authority because these play significant roles in the development level of Nigerian industries.

The Effects of Traditional Ceremonies and Early Marriages on Girls’ Access to Secondary Education in Kilolo District, a Case of Public Secondary Schools

This study aimed to explore the effects of traditional ceremonies and early marriages on girls’ access to secondary education in Kilolo District Council; A case of public secondary schools. The study employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The cross-sectional design was employed to the study. The population of this study was secondary school students in the selected wards of Kilolo District; teachers, ward educational officers, and ward executive officers as key informants. A random sample technique used to randomly select of 108 respondents who were secondary school’s students while purposive sampling technique adopted to the selected 12 key informants for this study. A questionnaires, interview and Focused Group Discussions (FGD) were used to explore information from the respondents. The Quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive through the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 while Qualitative data were divided into themes and then subjected to content analysis to supplement quantitative data. The study findings revealed that, lowering academic performance, increase number of school droppers and lowering attendance were among the effects of traditional ceremonies and early marriages on girls’ access to secondary education at Kilolo District. Basing on the study findings, it is recommended that, the government and other stakeholders should take appropriate actions to those people who forced girl’s students to engaged in traditional ceremonies and early marriage with enforcement of law relating with the particular incidents, while at the same time, education on the effects of harmful cultural practicing including early marriage should be disseminating to all over the societies so as to reduce the persistence of the problem with advocacy for girls right in accessing education at all level.

Teachers’ Pedagogical Competence in Dealing with Teaching Aids in Tanzania: A Case of a Few Finalist Pre-service Science-teachers

The value of teaching aids in the process of teaching sciences cannot be overstated. The capacity of finalist university pre-service science teachers to incorporate teaching aids into their science classrooms to open up the potential of bringing about the critical features of an intended object into realisation is evaluated in this study. Observations and document reviews were used as data collecting techniques in this descriptive study, and they were used to investigate only 25 student-teachers during their final teaching practice placement. Evidence suggested that the study participants’ ability to select or design teaching aids was low as most of the materials they employed had didactic, structural, and technical concerns. Importantly, the study participants demonstrated significant difficulties in unpacking instructional materials during the science lessons. The study recommended various measures for policy and practice regarding both science teacher-education and science teaching process.

Assessing Civic Literacy in Elementary Social Studies amidst the Pandemic

Assessment in the zenith of the COVID-19 pandemic challenges the teacher’s administration of assessment and evaluation tools to identify learners’ pace in self-learning. This study examined elementary social studies teachers’ assessment tools and practices during the closing of schools and the zenith of distance learning through SLMs. Using content analysis, the researchers examined the SLMs (SLM) and the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs) as the components of the emergency curriculum. The findings exposed the exquisite adaptation of conventional assessment tools among the types of assessment manifested in the SLM. Monitoring and feedbacking, reporting students’ ratings, and authenticity of students’ work were the common problems encountered by teaches. The researchers recommended the utilization of alternative assessment tools to better address the dynamics of civic literacy and flexible appraisal of student achievement. Using technology for assessment will also enhance the delivery of assessment instructions and easiness in validating students’ work.

Prevailing Status of Educational Process Factors in Junior High Schools in the Central Region of Ghana

Globally, there is the quest to improve quality education as highlighted by the Sustainable Development Goal 4. One of the quintessential factors that could facilitate the attainment of this global goal is effective and adequate educational process factors. The study specifically sought to assess the state of educational process factors such as teacher use of instructional time, level of parental and community involvement, type of leadership, curriculum coverage among the urban, rural, public, and private junior high schools in the Central Region of Ghana. The descriptive survey design was used to carry out the study. Through stratified sampling technique, 1260 respondents comprising 126 head teachers, and 378 junior high school teachers were engaged in the study. Two sets of questionnaires were designed for the headteachers and teachers. Data gathered were analysed using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations as well as chi-square test of association and independent samples t-test. It was found that educational process factors were generally better in urban schools as well as private schools. For rural schools and public schools, the educational process factors were poor, particularly, the percentage of syllabus coverage was low for English, Mathematics, and Integrated Science. It was concluded that deficit in educational process factors posed threat to the quality of education. It was suggested that the Ministry of Education, together with teachers should strive to enhance process variables in schools.

Exploring the Determinants of Students' Satisfaction and Continuance Intention Using Online Learning in Jordan

This research investigates factors affecting online learning satisfaction and continuance intention by Jordan school students. To this end, an integrated model of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) and Information System Success (ISS) model has been used. A questionnaire was handed out to students from five Jordanian schools to collect data from 346 students, and the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique was utilized to evaluate the proposed model. The findings indicated that the students' satisfaction is directly influenced by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, system quality. Besides, the empirical results showed that the continuance intention is directly influenced by students' satisfaction, performance expectancy, habit, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, and facilitating conditions. The findings of this study will serve as a valuable resource for educational institutions, decision-makers, developers, and academics looking to enhance online learning systems by identifying the most important factors influencing students' satisfaction and continuance intention.

Managing Perceptions of Teachers to Changes in Grade 9 Economic and Management Sciences Curriculum, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

This study focused on understanding the perceptions of teachers to changes in Grade 9 Economic and Management Sciences curriculum, of the Malelane circuit in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The proposed research was carried out through a qualitative research method. A case study has been used. The case study method allowed the researchers to use multiple data collection methods to enhance the quality of the findings. In the case of this research, the researchers used interviews, lesson observations, and document review. Out of a population of 12 secondary schools at the Malelane circuit, 3 schools were conveniently sampled, out of the 3 schools, 3 participants were pulled, which was the principal, the Heads of Departments, and the Economic and Management Sciences teachers. Teachers were chosen on the basis that they were teaching Economic and Management Sciences for Grade 9. A non-probability sampling and purposeful convenient sampling was used. Lack of resources such as calculators, textbooks, workbooks, desks, lack of support from the government, chairs, overcrowded classes, changes in the curriculum and time allocation for Economic and Management Sciences subject are sources of teachers’ negative perceptions towards Economic and Management Sciences Curriculum for Grade 9. The teachers’ perceptions of Economic and Management Sciences made it clear that too much content was taught in 1 subject thus causing poor performance in Economic and Management Sciences for Grade 9. Fear of change leads teachers to have a negative perception and inappropriate behaviour.