Teaching strategies used by Junior Primary teachers to enhance learners' mathematical reasoning ability in solving mathematical problems

Abstract

This paper investigated the teaching strategies used by Junior Primary teachers to help learners reason mathematically at two selected schools in Oshana region. The paper was triggered by the need for intervention to seek ways of mitigating this problem of poor reasoning skills among the Junior Primary learners. Consequently, the study sought to answer the questions: What strategies do the Junior Primary teachers use to help learners reason mathematically when doing problem solving and computation? This study used a qualitative approach, using convenient sampling technique to gather data from a sample of six (6) Junior Primary school teachers from the two selected schools for the purpose of this study. Classroom observations revealed that strategies to enhance reasoning such as problem solving, which is one of the strategies to measure learners’ mathematical reasoning, was lacking in lessons. The activities given to learners had little to do with reasoning. In addition, teachers were mostly inclined to use closed-ended questions and short answer questions which promoted less reasoning compared to open-ended questions. This study recommended that Advisory Services together with UNAM numeracy lecturers should arrange training sessions for Junior Primary teachers on different calculation strategies, the use of appropriate teaching materials in mathematics lessons to demonstrate and illustrate various mathematics concepts to increase the learners' understanding and reasoning skills and problem solving. Junior Primary teachers should apply Bloom's taxonomy in planning learning activities for their learners, and to determine the type of questions asked in the lessons.