An investigation into the relationship between mathematical ability and mathematical achievement of standard seven children of Kenya

Abstract

This thesis investigated the relationship between Mathematical Ability and Mathematical Achievement in standard seven pupils of Kenya. It further investigated performance differences among pupils attending different types of schools and also between male and female pupils in mathematics. The study was prompted by the very little research work done in this area in Kenya, and where some work was done already, the results were not conclusive. The study examined four main research questions: 1. How significant ,is the relationship between Mathematical Achievement and Mathematical Ability, Mathematical Achievement and Mathematical Vocabulary, and Mathematical Achievement and English Language Proficiency. 2. Do the scores of pupils attending the Low cost Medium cost and High cost schools differ significantly in Mathematical Achievement, Mathematical Ability, Mathematical Vocabulary and English Language Proficiency tests?

3. Do the scores of male and female pupils differ significantly in Mathematical Achievement, Mathematical Ability, Mathematical Vocabulary and English Language Proficiency tests? 4. Which factors account for the variation in performance on Mathematical Achievement test? The subjects for this study constituted of a total of 634 standard seven pupils from 15 primary schools in Kenya. The schools were of three types, Low Cost, Medium Cost and High cost, all drawn from Kisumu town within a radius of 10 kilometres, Kisumu town is in Kisumu District in Nyanza Province, Kenya. In each school, under normal classroom conditions, the selected pupils were given tests on Mathematical Achievement, Mathematical Ability, Mathematical Vocabulary and English Language Proficiency. A questionnaire to provide information on pupils' age, class repetition and after school coaching in Mathematics and English was also given to the pupils. The results of correlation analysis revealed very strong relationship between Mathematical Achievement and Mathematical Ability, implying that what the pupils achieved in Mathematics was as a result of their level of ability in Mathematics.Strong correlation were also found between Mathematical Achievement and Mathematical Vocabulary and between Mathematical Achievement and English Language Proficiency. A comparison of the scores of pupils attending low Cost, Medium Cost and High Cost primary schools by the One Way ANOVA technique revealed statistically significant difference at p<OOI in favour of pupi18 in High Cost Significant sex differences were found in Mathematical Ability, Mathematical Achievement and Mathematical Vocabulary in favour of male pupih but not in English Language Proficiency This clearly showed that the female pupil have a problem in Mathematics. Step-wise multiple regression analysis revealed that 62% of the variation in pupils' Mathematical Achievement was accounted for by their level of Mathematical Ability, Mathematical Vocabulary ,English Language Proficiency, Sex of pupil, CIass repetition, Type of .chool and After school Coaching in English and Mathematics.

It was concluded that differences in pupil performance in the tests reflected differences in the 8chools the pupils attended. Further research is therefore required to qualitatively and quantitatively determine which factors within the school environment are responsible for the differences in pupil performance. It is therefore recommended that if the potential of our youth has to be realized fully, then equal opportunity in education must be provided for all, and the way to do this is to set the schools to be as equivalent in standard as' possible