Primary school mathematics teachers’ ideas, beliefs, and practices of constructivist instructional strategies

Abstract

The study explored Ghanaian primary school mathematics teachers’ ideas, beliefs and practices of constructivist instructional strategies (CIS). The design for the study was a sequential exploratory design, comprising two hundred and fifty-two (252) mathematics teachers (126 lower primary teachers and 126 upper primary teachers), who were purposively selected from school districts in the Upper East region. The qualitative data consisted of interview responses and lesson observations. The quantitative data consisting mainly of teachers’ responses to 3-point Likert scale questionnaire items, helped to investigate relationship in two quantitative variables. The results indicated that through CIS pupils were able to construct their own understanding, and were willing to follow a learner-centred method of instruction. Additionally, teachers became aware of social interaction and authentic learning tasks, two aspects of CIS. It was also determined that as teachers’ perceptions of CIS increased, their frequency of use of selected CIS correspondingly increased. The implications of this study are that mathematics teachers should be provided with resources that would enable them to teach using CIS. To forestall this, in-service and professional development programmes should continually be organized for teachers to keep them abreast of CIS.