Kwadwo Amo-Asante

The study examined how applying mathematical concepts to real-life situations and using mathematical history as teaching strategies affect students’ performance in mathematics. It also investigated the impact of students’ perceptions and teaching and learning materials on these relationships. This study is important because it offers insights into how context-based and historically grounded teaching methods can enhance mathematics achievement, informing more effective and culturally relevant instructional practices. Conducted with a cross-sectional survey design, the study used a structured questionnaire to collect data from 579 secondary school students across six schools in the Kwabre East district, Ashanti Region, Ghana. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling in Amos (v.23) software. Results indicated that applying mathematical concepts to real-life situations positively and significantly influenced students’ performance. Incorporating the history of mathematics did not directly impact performance but was fully mediated by students’ perceptions. Additionally, students’ perceptions partially mediated the link between real-life application and performance. The use of teaching and learning materials moderated both the relationship between real-life application and students’ perceptions and the relationship between history of mathematics and students’ perceptions.

Mathematics plays a key role because it is one of the important subjects within the foundation that constitute the core curriculum for basic and secondary education. Mathematics must therefore be taught in a way to engage learners to construct their knowledge, which helps them build conceptual understanding using modern teaching strategies. Fractions are the building blocks for a solid conceptual understanding of algebra and other concepts in mathematics, especially at the basic school. Therefore, teachers must use strategies that make lessons more realistic and practical, such as manipulatives. The purpose of the study was to use manipulatives to build students’ conceptual understanding of the operations of fractions. The study design was quasi-experimental, with a pre-/post-test method used for data collection to assess the impact of the intervention design. A sample of 50 junior high school students was selected purposively for the study. The data was analyzed using SPSS v.26. The researchers concluded that using manipulatives in the teaching of fractions improved the students’ performance and helped build their conceptual understanding of the operations of fractions.

How do mathematics teachers view about the curriculum can affect their role in classroom activities. In this context, this study examined teachers’ perceptions of the math curriculum for senior high schools in Ghana and their interrelation with classroom practices. Quantitative data were collected from a random sample of 69 mathematics teachers across the senior high schools in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The results of the data showed that the teachers have confidence toward the subject. However, they view math curriculum as a rigid and abstract with more theoretical practices rather than practical connection, which they think is nonrealistic and irrelevant in the current form. Most of the math teachers were not confident about linking the classroom activities to students’ real life. They do not have sufficient knowledge and experience in curriculum design. In this sense, the core mathematics curriculum for Ghanaian senior high schools is not realistic and relevant. Some curriculum recommendations have been suggested at the end of this paper.

The research was to ascertain the mediating effect of students’ perception in the relationship between the history of mathematics, peer-assisted learning, and students’ interest in mathematics. The study was based on 394 students from four selected secondary schools in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The study was a survey, adopting a structured questionnaire as the research instrument. Structural equation modelling was estimated using Amos (v.23) software, to test the hypothesized paths. History of mathematics had no direct effect on students’ perception towards mathematics, thereby, students’ perception acted as a full mediating variable. Peer-assisted learning had a direct effect on students’ perception towards mathematics, thereby, students’ perception acted as a partial mediating variable. It is recommended to the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education to inculcate the use of history mathematics, as part of the courses in training mathematics teachers.