Date of Award

11-2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

First Supervisor/Advisor

Peter Kajoro

Second Supervisor/Advisor

Veronica Sarungi

Department

AKU-East Africa

Abstract

Mathematics is a core subject in the Kenyan education system, since it is the backbone of STEM and equips the citizens with computational skills as an ingredient for vision 2030. Logarithms as a topic in mathematics is widely used in sciences, calculus and in various careers such as in computer programming, Richter scale for earthquakes and many more.

However, many learners still find challenges when tackling logarithms questions in mathematics papers in K.C.S.E. exams. It is against this backdrop that my study explored on the secondary students experiences in the learning of logarithms in form three class; a case of a secondary school in Homa Bay county, Kenya. A qualitative approach and a case study design along with the administration of logarithm test were employed to conduct the research.

The participants were 20 form three students who did the test and out of which 4 were interviewed using their scripts then 6 were involved in focus group discussion with the analysis of their mathematics exercise books. The findings of this study indicated that most students have mastered the conversion of numbers to standard form but experienced difficulties in checking their logarithms from mathematical tables. It also emerged that most students have not grasped and had varied challenges in the use logarithm tools in calculating logarithms.

Most of the students exhibited difficulties in the conversion of logarithms to exponents, elimination of logarithms symbols and application of laws of logarithms. These findings should be helpful to the ministry of education, teachers and curriculum developers to change strategies and provide logarithm tools for teaching logarithms for effective understanding.

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