MTH 2201: MATHEMATICS TEACHING METHODS

PREPARING TO TEACH MATHEMATICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

o SCHEMES OF WORK
A scheme of work can be defined as a breakdown of the syllabus into manageable units, which
could be covered in a specific period of time. It could last for a week(s), month(s) or a whole
year.
Scheming is essential in teaching because:
 It makes teaching both systematic and orderly
 It gives the teacher a forward insight in teaching by enabling one to identify content,
methods and relevant instructional materials which are going to be used in the lesson.
The teacher thus plans the work ahead of time.
 It enables the teacher to see lessons in a broader perspective thus guiding one during
lesson preparation.
A well prepared scheme of work should among other things;

 Give an overview of the total course content

 Provide for a sequential listing of learning tasks
 Show relationship between content and support materials
 Provide a basis for: long range planning, training, and evaluation of the course.

The following should be born in mind when preparing a scheme of work;

1. Understanding the syllabus. The classroom teacher may not necessarily be involved in the
initial stages of developing curriculum, but (s) he is expected to interpret the curriculum and
implement it correctly. This calls for a thorough understanding of the syllabus and content, in
order to achieve the stated objectives. The teacher is expected to act like a policeman or a
judge who is called upon to administer the law though he did not make it. It is therefore very
important that the teacher be thoroughly conversant with the curriculum in order to
implement it successfully.
2. Preceding and succeeding syllabus content. In most cases topics from the syllabus may not
be arranged in the order which they are supposed to be taught. Some topics will require the
knowledge of the previous ones while others are quite independent. The teacher should not
only identify the essential learning content in logical teaching order considering the
proceeding and succeeding syllabus content
3. Syllabus contents of related subject. The mistake which many teachers make is to scheme
for their subject without considering the contents of related subjects. This is very wrong and
should be highly discouraged. Quite often the teaching of a given topic, in a given subject
may be impeded by lack of skills or knowledge to be acquired in a different subject.
4. Existing scheme of work for the subject. If a scheme of work is already available for the
subject, it would be waste of effort and time for the teacher to break new ground again. In
this case, the teacher can revise the existing scheme to suit his/her students and to bring it up
to date.
5. Reference material and examination. The teacher should be familiar with reference
material that is available for effective coverage of the topics in the scheme of work. There is
nothing more disturbing than finding out that a topic that is already covered could have been
more interesting, enjoyable and even better understood if certain materials or teaching aids
that are available in school had been utilized. The type of examination the students are being
prepared for should bear in mind that some levels require more revision time than others and
therefore, scheme for revision appropriately.

Below is the format of a Scheme of work for Mathematics:

Subject:

Class:

Name of Teacher / Student Teacher:

Reg.No:

School:
Competences

Methodology

Instructional
Objectives/

References
Sub-Topic

Materials

Activities
Learning

Remarks
Content
Period

Topic
Week
COMPONENTS OF SCHEME OF WORK:

Week

This is the week of the school term when a particular topic is to be taught. Its starting and
ending dates must be indicated e.g Week 7: 05th – 09th October, 2020.

Period

This is the number of Mathematics lessons per week given the provision of lessons in the
Secondary School classes.

Topic

The topics in the syllabus need to be rearranged in the order in which they are supposed to be
taught. This is because some topics are building up for example, before one learns
multiplication, he/she should have done additions, e.t.c. this needs to study the entire school
syllabus for the class first and then note the relevant parts for the term. Also one has to find
out whether the topic is new or not, find out the knowledge they need to have, and when they
last studied it. This information can guide one to link students’ experiences with what is to
come.
Sub – Topic
These are in most cases specific and stated in behavioral terms of what the teacher expects
students to do at the end of the lesson.
Objectives

Each sub-topic should be followed by an objective(s) which is meant to pinpoint the

anticipated learning behaviors of the learners. The specific nature of the sub-topic does not
permit broad objectives which may not be realized by the end of that period. The objectives
must be stated in such a manner that there is a measurable aspect manifested by the content
of the lesson. A learning objective provides the learner with clear and complete direction as
to where one is going. It is a statement of what is to be achieved.

Learning objectives range from most general to specific. General objective can be achieved
in a series of lessons. It could be referred to as an aim. A specific objective can be achieved
during or at the end of the lesson.
 Content / Subject Matter

This is where a teacher notes down the summary of the main teaching points. It specifies
what the learners are expected to achieve at the end of the lesson.
They form the backbone of the lesson. The content should be stated in specific, precise
manner, preferably in form of phrases which convey the full meaning intended.

Methodology (Methods & Techniques)

This refers to safe ways of delivering message contents to the learners. This refers to general
principles, pedagogy and management strategies used for classroom instruction. These
strategies are determined partly on subject matter to be taught and partly by the nature of the
learners. Thus one must consider the methodologies that expose the knowledge to the
students as well as the methodologies which encourage active students’ participation to find
out information themselves.

Instructional Materials

These are materials used to facilitate learning. They make explanation and description more
real, lively and interesting for the class. Examples include; Pictures, Real objects/ Specimen,
Charts, Flash cards etc

Learning Activities

These are activities which the students should carryout in order to learn the content presented to
them by the teacher. The activities should be participatory and cater for all the learning needs of
the learners.

References

These are books that a teacher uses or consults when planning a lesson. These resource
materials for specific content coverage used are necessary and should be noted down with
their relevant pages in the scheme of work for ease in reference during lesson planning.
References include books, handouts, worksheets, journals, reports, etc. it is necessary for the
teacher to indicate the title books, their authors’ name (s), Publisher and place of publication,
chapters and relevant pages.

Comments/remarks

Remarks in the scheme of work should be made immediately the lesson is over. The teacher
is supposed to indicate whether what was planned for the period has been covered, whether
there was over planning or failure of lesson and reasons for any case, etc . Remarks
suggested are meant to help the teacher in his subsequent and future planning.

Importance of Scheme of Work:

 It helps the teacher to identify the areas of integration. With scheme of work, a teacher is
able to come up with a variety of methods in teaching –learning that enable a teacher to
meet his objectives and also make a student comprehend the concepts.
 It checks the teachers’ pace of teaching. This helps a teacher to know whether his/her
speed is low or high such that he/she can improve accordingly for the betterment of
teaching-learning process.
 It increases teachers’ creativity for teaching as teacher thinks of what teaching aids and
teaching methods should he/she include in the scheme of work to help me deliver
properly.
 It enhances smooth handing over in case of transfer of a teacher thus ensuring continuity
in teaching.
 It makes teaching both systematic and orderly.
 It gives the teacher a forward insight in teaching by enabling one identify content,
methods and relevant instructional materials which are going to be used in the lesson.
The teacher thus plans the work ahead of time.
 It enables the teacher to see lessons in broader perspective thus guiding one during lesson
preparation.
 It enables the teacher to budget for time wisely giving room for events and activities
which might interfere with the school calendar e.g. public holidays, prize giving day and
outings etc; also time is budgeted according to the level of difficulty of the content.
 It is easier for one, as head of department to monitor the work of the teachers in the team
 It saves everyone from re-inventing the wheel each year as topics come around.
 It captures and shares good lessons, good activities.
 o LESSON PLAN
A lesson plan can be defined as:
• a formulated approach to teaching and learning which shows clearly all activities that are going
to take place during the lesson and the order in which they are going to follow.
• a systematic sequence of activities, which are designed to lead to the achievement of a given
objective or objectives.
• a work plan covering details of what is to be covered in a lesson.
A lesson plan is prepared from a scheme of work and a well prepared and detailed scheme of
work will make the work of the teacher easy to a lesson plan. A teacher must prepare a lesson
plan every time is going to class to teach.

Importance of a lesson plan

A lesson plan is important in teaching and learning of mathematics because:
 It serves as evidence of careful pre-thinking and preparation by the teacher because the
lesson plan is used as a basis for the lesson to be presented.
 It enables the teacher to be familiar with the teaching content and to visualize the best
way of covering, it using appropriate methods and materials.
 It serves as a summary, guide/road map to the teacher on the content to be taught and
action to be taken at various stages of the lesson in order to avoid vagueness and
irrelevance.
 It acts as a reference/a memory bank to the teacher because it reminds one of the main
points to focus on during the lesson
 It gives the teacher security and confidence so long as there is something to refer to
during the lesson.
 It improves the teacher's performance by acting as a basis for future planning.

Format of a Mathematics Lesson plan:

School:
Teacher’s Name / Student Teacher’s Name:
Reg. No:
Week Date Subject Number of Students Class Time Average Age

Topic:
Sub – Topic:
Objectives / Competences:
Methodology:
Instructional Materials:
Learning Activities:
References:
Lesson development:
Phase/Step Time Teacher’s Activity Learners’ Activity
Introduction
Experiencing Phase
(Exposition)
Sharing of Experiences Phase
(Integration)
Evaluation
Conclusion

Lesson Evaluation / Self Evaluation:

Strengths:………………………………………………….
Areas for Improvement:……………………………….......
Way forward:……………………………………………….

Introduction / Introductory Phase:

Introduction is basically exploitation of learners’ old experiences. Experiences learners have that
are related to the new content to be taught.
The introduction should be relevant to the current lesson and must be to the point.
Approximately five minutes is recommended. In some cases, a ten minute introduction may be
accepted for double lessons/periods only.
A teacher of Mathematics can introduce a new lesson in one of the ways below:-
 Telling a current event obtained from the Newspaper article or educational radio or Tv
broadcasts and linking it with the current lesson.
 Revising work covered in the previous lesson and linking it with the current lesson.
  Asking lead – in questions which have carefully been thought out.
 Asking students to contribute ideas on how to solve some problems which are involved in
the lesson.
 Allowing students to make observations on materials which are brought in the class by
the teacher or by fellow students.
 Making a summary of the procedures that has been developed.
 Involving students in Mathematical games, mental work etc

The introductory activities serve one or more of the following purposes;

- They draw the minds of the students from whatever they have just been doing before the
lesson.
- They arouse interest in the lesson.
- They direct the attention of the class in the lesson.
- They can elicit students’ ideas about phenomenon as a result of everyday experiences.

Experiencing Phase (Exposition). This is where a teacher brings new content to the class and
creates situations for students to interact and understand. (Actual teaching phase).

Sharing of Experiences Phase (Integration). In this phase students integrate their old experiences
with the new experiences explored in the lesson. Here, students practice and apply the new
experiences acquired in solving problems.

Evaluation Phase: This is where a teacher tries to find out whether any learning has taken place
and whether the intended objectives / learning outcomes have been achieved. This can be achieved
through giving an exercise or an assignment.

Lesson Conclusion:
Sufficient time should be planned to end the lesson formally. During this time, you can do one or
more of the following activities:-
 Go over, quickly, what you have covered during the lesson. This is known as Recapitulation
 Make a summary of the lesson to strengthen what the students have in their mental faculties.
 Comment on things which were well done or badly done.
 Point out the use of the knowledge gained from the lesson.
 Give assignments or exercise (take home) to reinforce concepts learned.
  Pose a problem so that the class may begin to think about for the next lesson.

Lesson Evaluation / Self Evaluation:

A teacher of Mathematics should provide a detailed and comprehensive lesson evaluation at the end
of every lesson clearly indicating the strengths, areas for improvement (with indicators) and the
way forward.
Besides the achievement of lesson objectives, the teacher’s comments should be made on:-
 The usefulness of the instructional material(s) employed.
 The suitability of the learning method(s) used.
 The suitability of the exercises / assignments given.
 Time management
 The learners’ general reaction to the lesson.
Lastly, it might be useful to point out that the teacher’s comments should culminate in making
suggestions (if any) about what and how improvements can be made in the future.

o RECORDS OF WORK
It is a document where all details of the work covered/ taught by the teacher are entered on a daily
basis. The entries are made by the individual teacher after every lesson. A record of work ensures:

 Accountability and transparency of work covered by the teacher

 The continuity of teaching of a particular class
 That a new teacher traces where to start teaching a class
 The evaluation of schemes of work after a period of time for example four years
 Uniformity in content coverage in case of several streams.

A record of work should have the following components:

WEEK PERIOD TOPIC SUB-TOPIC WORK/CONTENT REMARKS

COVERED
 o INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN A MATHEMATICS CLASS

Individual differences stand for the variation or deviation of learners in regard to a single
characteristic or a number of characteristics.
Individual differences can also be defined as those differences which in their totality distinguish
one individual from one another.
Dissimilarity in principle of nature, no two persons are alike, all the iindivi9duals differ from each
other in many aspects. Children born of the same parents and even twins are not alike. This change
is seen in physical forms like height, color, weight, and complexion strength, difference in
intelligence achievements, interests, attitude, and aptitude, learning habits, motor abilities and
skills. Each man has an intellectual capacity through which he gains experience and learning.
Every person has the emotions of love, anger, fear, and feelings of pleasure and pain. Every man
the need of independence, success and need for acceptance. Individual differences are caused by
heredity, environment, nationality, sex age and education.
So, with this definitions, we can say that individual differences are differences among humans that
distinguish or separate them from one another and makes one as single unique individual.
Individual differences can be categorized into different types which include;
Difference in interest. Different individuals have different interests in different things. Interests
may refer to a motivating force that makes us to attend to a person, a thing or an activity. In
educational field one may observe some students as a particular subject, teacher than the others.\
Difference in attitude. Attitudes of the learners towards something also varies from individual to
individual. Few learners have a positive attitude towards a specific topic, subject and profession
than the others.
Differences in values. Values are things that are given importance by an individual. Some learners
value materialist life style others moral or religious lifestyle.
Differences in study habits. It is clearly observable that some students differ from other students
in study habits because some students are studious and study all the subjects with interest but others
may not
Differences in intelligence, some learners are gifted or quick learner s while others are slow
learners.
Difference in self-concept. It is the totality of attitudes, judgment, and values of an individual
relating to his behavior, abilities, and qualities.so some students have positive self-concept than
boost their confidence level and perform better against those who have negative self-image.
Difference in psychomotor skills. It is related to some acquisition skills. On this each student has a
different psychomotor skills abilities, so teachers should diagnose these students’ abilities and
encourage them in that direction.
Causes of the individual differences
 Heredity (nature) or Hereditary.
Individuals have different abilities, capabilities provided by hereditary which decides the path of
progress and development of an individual.
Hereditary also puts limits upon individuals’ growth and development in various dimensions. It also
contributes to sex, intelligence, and other specific abilities
 Environment (nature)
No person from birth to death gets the same environment. Individual differences occurs in the basis
of stimulation received by an individual from his or her internal and external environment. This
includes family set up, peer group, economic status, school and neighborhood.
 Will of freedom
The individual is given the capacity by heredity and environmental factors but the will or the power
of self-determination to choose which capacity to develop or not is also paramount. This means that
the will is the capacity or personal choice either to promote inherited traits or not, which implies
will of a person also causes differences among individuals.
Other causes of individual differences are race, sex, tribe age (maturity), social and economic status
etc.
How can a teacher cater individual differences while presenting a mathematics lesson?
 Adopt different teaching methods considering individual differences related to interest,
attitude, etc.
 The teacher should use certain specific teaching aids which will attract students towards
learning considering their interests and needs.
 Grouping students for a learning activity should not be based only on mental age or
chronological age of children. The social, physical and emotional maturity should be given
due consideration.

o Mixed ability teaching in Mathematics.

Types of learners we have in a mathematics class include;
 High –ability learners
 Average –ability learners
 Low –ability learners
How can you as a teacher cater for the different categories of learners in a mathematics class?

o MOTIVATION IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS

Motivation is the effort, the drive, desire and the energy a person uses to activate and maintain a
goal driven behavior.
Motivation are the internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be
continuously interested and committed to a job, role or subject or to make an effort to attain a goal.
It can also be defined as a psychological feature that involves a desire to achieve a certain goal.
Motivation refers to an internal impulse that brings us to complete an action.
Motivation can be classified into two types.ie Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation. This is the type of motivation in which one or the learner is internally
motivated and is willing to do something because it is important to him or her or because he or she
enjoys doing it. In intrinsic motivation, there are no external forces attached like punishment or a
reward for the good work done
Extrinsic motivation
This is when one or a learner wants to study or learn because of the external forces like avoidance
of punishments, praise for the good work done and rewards for good performance or even peer
acceptance.
How can you as a teacher motivate your students in a Mathematics class?
 o Know your students well by names, their strengths and weaknesses, interests in the
classroom and outside, ambitions, goals, values etc
o Make the environment in which the student is immerged pleasant and supportive to learning
e.g the classroom should be kept clean, desks and chairs neatly arranged etc
o Be well prepared for the lesson. Be energetic and enthusiastic in what you are going to
teach. Keep things lively in your class by talking about things students are interested in.
o Provide assortment of contents, concepts and activities that appeal to the variety of tasks
and interests.
o Use interesting strategies and methods
o Ensure that the students know what to do, when and how to do it.
o Tell the students the usefulness, now or in future, of what they are learning (applicability).
o Treat your students as responsible beings. Be friendly, personable and understanding.

Qn: Why do we need to motivate learners while teaching Mathematics?

 Motivation of learners promotes an active learning environment because it encourages
learners’ participation in the teaching-learning process.
 We motivate learners to break boredom in classroom thus improving on the performance of
students.
 It improves persistence and efforts of the learners in the classroom.
 Motivation helps to maximize engagement and enhance the effectiveness of the lesson in
the teaching-learning process.
 It attracts learner’s attention in class.
 It improves on the cognitive process skills of the learners since they are all the senses of the
body.
 It encourages research among the learners because learners will look actively for the related
resources to guarantee their success.