Access to Research Findings from Mathematics Higher Education among Primary School Teachers

Authors

  • Samson S. Afolabi

Keywords:

Access, Research findings, Mathematics teaching, Primary School

Abstract

Research is a main source of solutions to national development. Researches in Mathematics education are carried out in higher educational institutions of learning and educational research institutes. Making the end user to have access to research findings is crucial in research processes, of which many researchers do not extend their studies. This paper investigated the sources wherein the primary school Mathematics teachers access research findings. The study sampled 170 primary school Mathematics teachers from two purposively selected Local Government Areas of Ibadan municipalities in Nigeria. ARFQ was a research questionnaire in 2 sections with section A containing bio- data and section B has 10 items on a 3-point scale. The items were for the primary school Mathematics teachers to indicate the degree to which the listed items serve as a source of access to research findings to them. The instrument was validated by using 23 primary school Mathematics teachers outside the study sample, the coefficient of reliability with Cronbach alpha was obtained as r= .70. A research question was answered and two hypotheses were tested item-by-item with t-test at .05 significant level. The findings showed that female teachers quite very much outnumbered the male teachers in our primary schools. Books, discussions with colleagues and lecture room information are topmost as sources of their access to research findings. There is a significant difference between male and female access to online materials (p=.026), conferences and workshops (p=.036) as sources of access to research findings in Mathematics education, with females having higher mean scores than males. There is a significant difference between public and private school teachers' access to online materials (p=.003), journals and proceedings (p=.008) as sources of access to research findings in Mathematics education, with private schools having a greater mean. It was concluded that the teachers did not have access to the best sources of research outlets which are journals, proceedings, conferences and workshops. The study also recommended that journals and proceedings should be directed to primary school libraries.

Résumé

La recherche est une des principales sources de solutions au développement national. Les recherches en enseignement des mathématiques sont menées dans les établissements d'enseignement supérieur des instituts d'apprentissage et de recherche pédagogique. Faire en sorte que l'utilisateur final ait accès aux résultats de la recherche est crucial dans les processus de recherche, ce qui fait que de nombreux chercheurs ne prolongent pas leurs études. Cet article a étudié les sources dans lesquelles les enseignants de mathématiques du primaire accèdent aux résultats de la recherche. L'étude a échantillonné 170 enseignants de mathématiques du primaire de deux zones de gouvernement local sélectionnées à dessein des municipalités d'Ibadan au Nigéria. Le questionnaire de recherche nommé ARFQ était divisé en 2 sections avec la section A contenant des données biologiques et la section B comprenait 10 éléments sur une échelle de 3 points. Il s'agissait pour les professeurs de mathématiques du primaire d'indiquer dans quelle mesure les éléments énumérés leur servaient de source d'accès aux résultats de la recherche. L'instrument a été validé en utilisant 23 professeurs de mathématiques du primaire en dehors de l'échantillon de l'étude, le coefficient de fiabilité avec Cronbach alpha a été obtenu comme r = 0,70. Une question de recherche a été répondue et deux hypothèses ont été testées élément par élément avec un test t à un niveau significatif de 0,05. Les résultats ont montré que les enseignantes étaient bien plus nombreuses que les hommes dans nos écoles primaires. Les livres, les discussions avec des collègues et les informations sur les salles de conférence sont les principales sources d'accès aux résultats de la recherche. Il existe une différence significative entre l'accès des hommes et des femmes aux documents en ligne (p = 0,026), aux conférences et aux ateliers (p = 0,036) en tant que sources d'accès aux résultats de la recherche dans l'enseignement des mathématiques, les femmes ayant des scores moyens plus élevés que ceux des hommes. Il existe une différence significative entre l'accès des enseignants des écoles publiques et privées aux matériels en ligne (p = .003), aux revues et aux actes (p = .008) en tant que sources d'accès aux résultats de la recherche dans l'enseignement des mathématiques, les écoles privées ayant une moyenne plus élevée. Il a été conclu que les enseignants n'avaient pas accès aux meilleures sources de sources de recherche que sont les revues, les actes, les conférences et les ateliers. L'étude a également recommandé que les revues et les actes soient dirigés vers les bibliothèques des écoles primaires.

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Published

2020-07-06

How to Cite

Afolabi, S. S. (2020). Access to Research Findings from Mathematics Higher Education among Primary School Teachers. West African Journal of Open and Flexible Learning, 9(1), 41–58. Retrieved from https://wajofel.org/index.php/wajofel/article/view/58

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Section

Research Articles