A growing number of underprepared students are entering higher education institutions
and studentsâ underachievement in mathematics is indeed of great concern. Numerous
research studies have pointed out that the academic domain of underpreparedness among
such students entails a lack of mathematical ability and effective study skills. Research
studies also point out that education should focus on âlearning how to learnâ and that
educators in South Africa should turn back to their primary responsibility, which is to
teach learners necessary thinking skills. Tertiary institutions, therefore, have the
obligation to train future professional students, and the responsibility lies with lecturers to
help students become aware of study skills and learning strategies with regard to
mathematics-related subjects. A comprehensive look into learning theories and the
learning of mathematics and statistics provided the researcher with insight with regard to
these aspects. The researcher therefore deemed it necessary to conduct a research study
with the aim to meet the need for improving studentsâ academic performance in such
subjects. The study reports on the introduction of a classroom learning strategy that was
designed to improve studentsâ academic performance in a mathematics and statisticsrelated
subject at the Central University of Technology, Free State.
The study is located within a quantitative paradigm, with some enhancement by means of
qualitative information. The study followed a non-equivalent pre-test post-test design
involving an experimental group and control group of students. A quasi-experimental
approach was used to determine whether the post-test performance of students who were
exposed to the classroom learning strategy (experimental group) was higher than that of
students who received no classroom learning strategy (control group) in the module
Business Statistics/Statistics II. With regard to the qualitative mode of study, the
researcher conducted a nominal group setting to determine the developmental
experiences students found most useful after the implementation of the classroom
learning strategy intervention. The quantitative analysis of studentsâ post-test
performance showed increases in studentsâ academic performance in the module Business
Statistics/Statistics II. The results that emerged from the nominal group technique setting also support the effectiveness of the researcherâs proposed classroom learning strategy
intervention, as it had a positive effect on studentsâ attitudes regarding a mathematics and
statistics-related subject.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-11102011-160412 |
| Date | 10 November 2011 |
| Creators | Delport, Danri Hester |
| Contributors | Dr I Garisch, Dr SP van Tonder, Dr MC Viljoen |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-11102011-160412/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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