Exploring notions of 'effective mathematics teaching' among students, teachers, and head teachers and enactment of the perceived effective teaching in the selected region of Gilgit-Baltistan
Date of Award
7-2015
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (M. Ed.)
Department
Professional Development Centre, Karachi
Abstract
Teaching is a complex phenomenon as teachers perform a wide range of activities for variety of purposes. Understanding quality of mathematics teaching is even more complex as different people have different perceptions of 'effective' mathematics teaching. Educators from international context describe effective mathematics teaching a way teachers presents the subject matter to. the learners so it arouses their interest towards learning. Effective mathematics teaching for some is to provide caring environment where students learn mathematics independently and collaboratively. In other contexts, effective teaching is considered as engagement of students in worthwhile tasks to helps them create connections between different mathematical concepts and also between mathematics and everyday experiences. The literature review suggests that effective teaching is not a universal trait as its notion is different in different contexts. Also, it is very important to study notion of effective teaching among different stake holders within a context to make sense of teachers' and students' action in the class. The purpose of this study was to explore the notions of students, teachers and head teachers about effective mathematics teaching in union council Chatorkhand Gilgit-Baltistan. I selected three high schools two from government education department and one AKES, P school for this study. Six mathematics teachers, three head teachers and thirty six students participated in this study. I used semi structured interview and classroom observations to collect the data. The findings from the verbal data from students, teachers and head teachers reveal that these stakeholders to a great extent have similar notions about effective mathematics teaching. They all consider that collaborative interactive teaching is better for students' learning as compared to individualistic and teacher centered teaching. However, the classroom practice in that context does not fit with their understanding of best teaching. It seems that they do not teach in a manner which they consider best, though they still consider it their best teaching.
Recommended Citation
Hussain, S. A. (2015). Exploring notions of 'effective mathematics teaching' among students, teachers, and head teachers and enactment of the perceived effective teaching in the selected region of Gilgit-Baltistan (Unpublished master's dissertation). Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.