Effect Of Inquiry Teaching Method On Students’ Achievement
Chapter One
Preface
Background Of The Study
Mathematics is one of the important subjects and this is why it’s made mandatory at the primary and secondary situations. Mathematics is one of the most important and adaptable internal tools which the intelligence of a man has made for its own use inclusively over the centuries. The subject has continued to play a significant part in public development of any country( USMAN 2002). Hence, it’s necessary that the tutoring and literacy process of mathematics be as clear as possible to avoid confusion and lack of understanding since mathematics deal with quantitative functions and relations as well as problems relating to compass and forms. thus, it said to be a language of orderliness and creative thinking( USMAN 2002).
Mathematics can be described as the backbone of other branches of wisdom like Engineering, Applied and social wisdom, Agricultural wisdom, Medicine and other branches. Mathematics is a introductory tool in the development of any wisdom- grounded knowledge similar as graphic, assiduity, technology, astronomy and sound logical logic in diurnal living in a ultramodern society.
One of the objects of wisdom education is to develop scholars ’ interest towards wisdom and technology. The development of any nation moment depends on its technological and scientific advancement. preceptors are anticipated to device ways of motivating their scholars to develop positive stations towards mathematics and wisdom related disciplines( Sola & Ojo, 2007).
There are numerous areas of study in secondary academy mathematics similar as Algebra, trigonometry, period, figures and numeration, statistic, set proposition etc. Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with the parcels of operation and the structures this operation are define on. According to Rusell( 2003), algebra is the aspect of mathematics which involves the use of letters and figures. These letters combined with the figures bring a lot of confusion to the scholars and with the letters changing values or one letter replacing another at interval. therefore this makes some scholars to wonder whether they’re learning mathematics or English language.
Inquiry tutoring Method is a style or system of tutoring where the learner is seeking to discover and produce answers to honored problems through procedure of making a active hunt, some time with minimal guidance from the schoolteacher( Callahan, Clark & Kelloough, 1995). Inquiry tutoring system is also a term used in wisdom tutoring that refers to a way of questioning, seeking knowledge or information or chancing out about marvels, it involves probing data and arriving at a conclusion( Sola & Ojo 2007). In inquiry situation scholars learn not only conception but also tone- direction, responsibility and social communication. It also permits scholars to assimilate and accommodate information. According to Sola and Ojo( 2007), inquiry is a way people learn when they’re left alone.
Cheval and Hart( 2005) classify inquiry tutoring system in to three classes, videlicet structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry, as illustrated in Table 1.
There’s a debate as to which type of inquiry is stylish. The general agreement is that, any form of inquiry( structured, guided, or open) can be useful to scholars when tutored meetly well. Structured inquiry is the most schoolteacher- centered of the three types of inquiry. This type of inquiry is generally seen in wisdom classrooms in the form of laboratory exercises.
The schoolteacher provides fairly structured procedures for the inquiry exertion, and scholars carry out the examinations. Structured inquiry could be described as the most traditional approach to inquiry( Cheval & Hart, 2007).
On the far side of the diapason is an open inquiry. This type of inquiry requires the least quantum of schoolteacher intervention and is pupil centered. scholars frequently work in groups and plan all phases of their examinations. This is the purest form of inquiry conducted in wisdom classrooms( Cheval & Hart, 2005).
Guided inquiry falls in the middle of the inquiry educational diapason. This approach is generally used when scholars are asked to make tools or develop a process that results in a asked outgrowth. For illustration, a wisdom schoolteacher gives his seventh grade middle academy scholars accoutrements to produce a rocket but no instructions for designing the rocket. The scholars must use their own knowledge and creativity to design the rocket so that it’ll launch duly, fly a certain distance, and land without getting disassembled. The schoolteacher provides the problem and accoutrements and the scholars develop the rocket using their own scientific process or Procedure
Cheval and Hart,( 2005) epitomized these inquiry types as shown in Table 1
Table 1 Summary of Inquiry Types *
Types of inquiry
Description
illustration
Structure inquiry
schoolteacher gives scholars problems
to probe during hands on
conditioning as well as the
Procedures and accoutrements .
scholars must determine the eschewal
Come
Laboratory conditioning with
procedures accoutrements and
question specified
Guided inquiry
preceptors give scholars the
problem or question and
Accoutrements. scholars have to
determine the process and out
come
scholars are given problems or
questions what are the parcels
of an acid what are the
parcels of a baseetc.
Open inquiry
The scholars determine the
problems procedures and out
come
scholars took a field trip to
probe theater working
with a mate must identify
exploration problems and conduct
an probe disquisition grounded
on the observation
In this study every type of inquiry was used and scholars were given motifs and accoutrements .
scholars were to develop a system to find answers to the problem given to them. Lecture system is used primarily to introduce scholars to a new subject but it’s also a precious system for recapitulating ideas, showing relationship between proposition and practice andre-emphasizing main points( Sola & Ojo, 2007). Lecture- demonstration system is a tutoring fashion that combines oral donation with doing to communicate process, generalities ideas and data, observation. It’s particularly effective in tutoring a skill that can be observed( Sola & Ojo, 2007).
According to Garba( 1996), lecture system is a traditional/ conventional system of transmission of knowledge; it’s characterized by a one- way inflow of information from the schoolteacher who’s always active to the learners who are always unresistant. According to him, conventional system has the following characteristics
i) scholars are absolutely unresistant listeners and passively assimilating information/ fact being given to them.
ii) scholars are responsible for making their own notes.
iii) preceptors or speakers does the major conditioning i.e. talking, illustration or donation of the film or other aid.
Conventional system is noted for the following graces
i) Knowledge, data or information are transmitted to scholars who gain some understanding of a subject.
ii) It’s less precious compared to the inquiry styles. still, conventional system has its own short appearances, which include the following
i) Passive learning on the part of the scholars and this makes them weak and disinterested.
ii) No immediate evaluation is made of what has been learned.
iii) Soft- spoken schoolteacher/ educator could produce a breakdown in the communication this is because some scholars may lose interest in his lecture.
Inquiry tutoring system was chosen in this study due to its scientific nature and it’s pupil- centered and it involved all scientific process( Sola & Ojo 2007).
Statement Of The Problem
Since there are multitudinous factors that backed the poor academic performance of the scholars ’ in mathematics both at the inferior and secondary academy situations in internal and external examinations time by time. Table 2 below gives the performance of the pupil below 50 as given by the WAEC principal monitor reports of 2007- 2014. piecemeal from the fact that secondary academy scholars paradenon-challant station toward mathematics, this problem of mass failure could be due to abstract symbolism of the subjects. The experimenter also observes that scholars have problem with using figures for rudiments. A mathematics schoolteacher should thus learn to put in place strategies and conditioning that would arose and sustain the interest of scholars in mathematics.
Table 2 scholars Performance in Mathematics from 2007- 2014 in May/ June SSCE
Time
A1- C6
bellow
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Purpose Of The Study
The objects of this study are to
Aim
Determine the goods of inquiry tutoring system and traditional/ conventional tutoring system on the performance of scholars tutored algebra in elderly secondary seminaries in Ogun State
objects
• Determine the goods of inquiry tutoring system on the performance of scholars in algebra in Ogun State;
• Determine the goods of inquiry tutoring system on the performance of manly and womanish scholars tutored algebra in Ogun State.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The findings of this study will help in the following ways
· It’ll help the mathematics preceptors to use the findings of this study in their mathematics classrooms;
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