A Study on Attitude of Lower Secondary Level Students and Teachers Towards Instructional Materials in Teaching Mathematics in Baglung District

A STUDY ON ATTITUDE OF LOWER SECONDARY LEVEL STUDENTS AND TEACHERS TOWARDS INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN BAGLUNG DISTRICT

THESIS SUBMITTED BY RAM PRASAD SAPKOTA PRITHVI NARAYAN CAMPUS CAMPUS ROLL NO.:- 011/061 EXAM ROLL NO.:- 480420 T.U. REG. NO.:- 6-1-327-321-96

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER IN EDUCATION

TO TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY PRITHVI NARAYAN CAMPUS DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS FACULTY OF EDUCATION POKHARA, NEPAL MARCH, 2012 i

TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY PRITHVI NARAYAN CAMPUS DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS FACULTY OF EDUCATION POKHARA, NEPAL

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ram Prasad Sapkota, a student of academic year 2061/062 B.S.with campus Roll No. 11/061, Exam Roll No. 480420 and T.U. registration number 6-1-327-321-96 has completed his thesis under my supervision, during the period prescribed by the rules and regulations of Tribhuvan University, Nepal. The thesis entitled "A Study on Attitude of Lower Secondary Level Students and Teachers Towards Instructional Materials in Teaching Mathematics in Baglung District" embodies the results of his investigation conducted during 2011/2012A.D. under the Department of Mathematics, Prithvi Narayan Campus. I recommended and forward that his thesis to be submitted for the evaluation for awarding the Degree of Master of Education in Mathematics.

(Asso. Prof. Narendra Narayan Jha) (Mr. Bibhab Neupane) (Head) (Supervisor) Department of Mathematics Department of Mathematics Prithvi Narayan Campus Prithvi Narayan Campus Pokhara, Nepal Pokhara, Nepal

Date…………………. ii

TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY PRITHVI NARAYAN CAMPUS DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS FACULTY OF EDUCATION POKHARA, NEPAL

APPROVAL LETTER

Thesis Submitted By RAM PRASAD SAPKOTA

Entitled "A Study on Attitude of Lower Secondary Level Students and Teachers Towards Instructional Materials in Teaching Mathematics in Baglung District" has been approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education.

Committee for the Viva-Voce Signature

1 Asso. Prof. Narendra Narayan Jha (Head of the Department) 2 Prof. Dr. Krishna Kumar Shrestha (External Supervisor) 3 Mr. Bibhab Neupane (Supervisor)

Date…………………. iii

DEDICATION

This work is affectionately dedicated to my parents Umakanta Sapkota and Khima Kumari sapkota. Also it is dedicated to my spouse Mrs.Gita Sapkota and lovely son Suyog Sapkota.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express sincere appreciation to my supervisor as well as my teacher Mr. Bibhab Neupane, the member of the department of Mathematics, Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara for giving a series of invaluable suggestions and guidance while writing this thesis. I am really exuberant to express my heartiest gratitude to Associate Professor Narendra Narayan Jha, the Head of the Department of Mathematics, Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokahra, who provided me an opportunity to write this thesis by approving my proposal.

Likewise, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to Professor Dr. Krishna Kumar Shrestha, Department of Mathematics, Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara, for inspiring me to do best research work. Similarly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Maheswor Pokharel, Bishnu Thapa and Gangadhar Poudel the Assistant Lecturers, Department of Mathematics, Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara, for their constructive suggestions and encouragement to carry out this research.

Similarly, I would like to thank to all those headmasters, mathematics teachers and students of sampled schools for their valuable co-operation during my research. I am highly indebted to my loving parents who inspired me a lot in my studies and every expect of my life. I would like to thank my brothers Ramesh Sapkota and Dinesh Sapkota Who helped me in typing this thesis. I would also like to express my gratitude my friends Khadka Raj Adhikari and all the staff of Sarbodaya Janak Higher Secondary School, Binamare-4, Baglung for their co-operation in completing this thesis.

Finally, I would like to express thank to Mr. Bhawani Prasad Parajuli, Sugam Computer Sewa, Bagar, Pokahra for setting and binding of this thesis.

Ram Prasad Sapkota v

ABSTRACT

This study intends to find out the attitude Lower Secondary Level Students and Teachers towards instructional materials in teaching mathematics in Baglung District. For this study the following objectives were formulated.

1. To find the attitude of lower secondary level students towards instructional materials in teaching mathematics 2. To find the attitude of lower secondary level teachers towards instructional materials in teaching mathematics 3. To compare the attitude of boys and girls towards Instructional materials in teaching mathematics at lower secondary level. 4. To compare the attitude of students and teachers towards Instructional materials in teaching mathematics at lower secondary level.

For This study the researcher had selected 8 Public Lower secondary schools of Baglung District .From each school 18 students from grade VI, VII and VIII with equal number of boys and girls were randomly selected. Altogether there were 144 students and 16 mathematics teachers.

For the primary data collection two sets of opinionnaire were used. One for the students and another for the mathematics teachers. There were 24 statements for the students and 26 statements for the teachers.These were classified into five domains Receiving, Responding, Valuing, Organization and Characterization which included the statements related

to classroom activities, textbook and instructional materials. Each statement in both sets contains three options acceptance, neutral and rejectence. Data collected by visiting sampled schools and concerning with the mathematics teachers as well as the students. The rating scores for positive statement were allocated 3, 2 and 1 for acceptance, neutral and rejectance respectively. All the statements were positive.

For the first two objectives simple percentages were calculated and for the last two objectives means, standard deviations, and t-values were calculated for the analysis and interpretation of the data, t-score was calculated at 5% level of significance with degree of freedom n1 +n2-2.

On the basis of interpretation and analysis of data, the major findings of this study are as follows: 1. Students have positive attitude towards instructional materials in teaching mathematics. 2. Teachers have positive attitude towards instructional materials in teaching mathematics. 3. There is no gender-difference in attitude towards instructional materials in teaching mathematics. 4. There is significance difference between the attitude of students and teachers towards instructional materials in teaching mathematics at lower secondary level.

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CONTENTS

Page Cover Page i Certificate ii Approval Letter iii Dedication iv Acknowledgement v Abstract vi Contents viii List of Tables x Abbreviation xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1-14 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem 10 1.3 Objectives of the Study 11 1.4 Significance of Study 12 1.5 Statement of Hypothesis 12 1.6 Limitation of the study 13 1.7 Definition of the Related Terms 13

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 15-18

CHAPTER -III METHODOLOGY 19-22 3.1 Design of the Study 19 3.2 Population of the Study 19 3.3 Sample of the Study 19 3.4 Instruments 20 3.5 Procedures of the Data Collection 21 3.6 Procedure of data analysis 21

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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 23-38 4.1 Lower secondary level Student's Attitude towards Instructional Materials 23 4.1.1 Students' attitude on Receiving 24 4.1.2 Students' Attitude on Responding 25 4.1.3 Students Attitude on Valuing 26 4.1.4 Students' Attitude on Organization 27 4.1.5 Students' Attitude on Characterization 27 4.1.6 Percentage of students on Attitude score in three options on five Domains 28 4.2 Mathematics teachers' Attitude towards Instructional Material in Teaching Mathematics 29 4.2.1 Teachers' Attitude on Receiving 29 4.2.2 Teachers' Attitude on Responding 30 4.2.3 Teachers Responses on Valuing 31 4.2.4 Teachers' Attitude on Organization 32 4.2.5 Teachers Attitude on Characterization 33 4.2.6 Percentage of Teachers on Attitude score in three options on five Domains 34 4.3 Comparison of Boys and Girls Attitude towards Instructional Materials in Teaching Mathematics 35 4.4 Comparison of Students and Teachers Attitude towards Instructional Materials in Teaching Mathematics 36

CHAPTER V SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS 39-42 5.1 Summary 39 5.2 Findings 41 5.3 Conclusions 41 5.4 Recommendations 42

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF TABLE

Table No. Topics Page No. 1. School Report of Baglung 5 2. Students' attitude on Receiving 24 3. Students' Attitude on Responding 25 4. Students Attitude on Valuing 26 5. Students' Attitude on Organization 27 6. Students' Attitude on Characterization 27 7. Percentage of students on Attitude score in three options on five Domains 28 8. Teachers' Attitude on Receiving 29 9. Teachers' Attitude on Responding 30 10. Teachers Responses on Valuing 31 11. Teachers' Attitude on Organization 32 12. Teachers Attitude on Characterization 33 13. Percentage of Teachers on Attitude score in three options on five Domains 34 14. Gender wise Responses of Students Attitude 35 15. Comparison of Boys and Girls Attitude towards Instructional Materials 35 16. Responses of Students and Teachers Attitude 37 17. Comparison of Students and Teachers Attitude towards Instructional Materials 37

ABBREVIATIONS

A. : Acceptance A.D. : Anno Domini B.C. : Before Christ CDC : Curriculum Development Center I.M. : Instructional Materials MFEQ : Migrant Fishermen Education Questionnaire N. : Neutral NCTM : National Council of Teaching Mathematics NESP : National Education System Plan. NG : Nepal Government NNEPC : Nepal National Educational Planning Commission. R. : Rejectance T.M. : Teaching Mathematics UNESCO : United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Oraganization WATP : Written Achievement Test for Pupils

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