Mathematics Education
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Item Blended Physics Laboratory Experiments and Teacher Education Students' Learning of Electricity and Magnetism(Addis Ababa University, 2023-07) Zemenu Mihret; Shimeles Assefa (Prof.)The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of blended physics laboratory experiments on teacher education students' conceptual understanding, understanding of the nature of science, and attitude toward physics laboratory experiments in a laboratory course that included concepts of electricity and magnetism. The study used a non-randomized quasi-experimental mixed methods design with pretest-posttest. It comprised a total of 63 per-service physics teachers enrolled at three colleges of teacher education, with 16 in the blended experiment group, 26 in the virtual experiment group, and 21 in the real experiment group. The first treatment group used a blend of real and virtual experiments; the second treatment group solely used virtual experiments; and the comparison group exclusively used real experiments. With the exception of the type of manipulative utilized, similar experiments from the physics laboratory course were taught to all three conditions using a guided inquiry-based approach. Conceptual understanding test for electricity and magnetism, understanding of the nature of science questionnaires, and attitudes towards physics laboratory questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data. Besides, qualitative data were gathered from participants on their opinions regarding the instructional strategies, the mode of physics laboratory experiments, and potential enhancements. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and thematic analysis. Results showed that blended experiments significantly improved students' attitudes towards physics laboratories, while virtual modes of laboratory experiments promoted conceptual understanding. Despite slight mean differences in favor of the treatments, there was no significant difference in understanding of the aspects of nature of science between the treatment and comparison groups. The majority of participants preferred blended and virtual modes of experimentation over real ones, despite some participants raising concerns about access to computers, additional software training, and more practice time. The efficacy of the various modes of physics laboratory experiments could depend on factors other than the media per se, such as the type of instructional strategy, curricular materials, and additional learning time. It is recommended that further study be done using different methodologies on the efficacy of different modes of experimentation to resolve conflicting results and produce optimal learning. Keywords: Attitude towards physics laboratory, Blended laboratory experiment, Conceptual understanding, Electricity and magnetism, Understanding of the nature of scienceItem The Role of Physical Education Teacher in Motivating and Engaging Students with Disabilities in Learning the Practical Classes of Physical Education: The Case of some Selected Seba Boru District(Addis Ababa University, 2021-09) Muktar Guddeta; Tesfaye Asegdom (phD)The main purpose of this study was to investigate the role of physical education teacher in motivating and engaging students with physical disabilities on learning practical classes of physical education in some selected schools in Seba boru district. Survey descriptive research design was used on this study. The data obtained through both qualitative and quantitative approach to identify the role of PE teacher in motivating and engaging SWD. Data were collected from the subjects through, questionnaires interview, focused group discussion and observation checklist. Data’s were organized and analyzed from in-depth questionnaires interviews, practical field observations were analyzed qualitatively. Quantitatively analysis is made using by tables and charts and qualitatively using by words. Based on the result of this study the following major findings were drawn as the results shows that factors and motivation challenge associated with materials, equipment, school compound, absence of disability sport competitions, limited professional development trainings, incomprehensive curriculum is found as a challenge and problems which limits motivation and participation of Student with disabled in school Physical education and extracurricular activities. Finally, Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that, awareness creation strategy should be designed to the school principals, teachers, families and other stakeholders so that they could support and all concerned bodies. Accordingly, curriculum experts and policy makers should reconsider teaching materials in different levels to make them inclusive, Physical education teachers should play great role in creating pupil to pupil interaction and motivation among disabled and student without disable, prepare disability sport competitions as for non-disabled ones, create conditions for physical education teachers to take part in professional development trainings. Keyword. Teacher, Motivation, challenge, practical class, sport, physical disabilities, competitions and physical Education.Item The Effect of Physical Activity on Students’ Academic Achievement amd Attitude in Some selected Secondary Schools in Lemi Kura Sub-City Administration, Addis Ababa.(Addis Ababa University, 2022-12) Asnaku Tadesse; Desta Gebeyehu(PhD)This study was aimed to investigate effects of physical activities on students’ achievement and attitude towards learning, and the association between the two dependent variables. A total of 215 grade 10th students from two different schools found in Lemi Kura Sub City, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia were the participants of the study. The participant samples were selected from Andode and Bori secondary schools randomly and assigned as treatment and comparison groups. The treatment groups were exposed to multiple physical activities before the start of lessons whereas the comparison groups had learnt the selected subjects as a regular trends. A non-equivalent pretest post test qusi experimental research design was used in this study. Standardized achievement test which was composed of English, mathematics, and biology, and attitude questionnaire with a five point Liker scale instruments were used to data. After checking all the required assumptions for test statistics, an independent sample t-test and Pearson Correlations were employed to compare the mean difference on students’ attitude towards performing physical activities, achievement between groups and associations between students’ attitude with their academic achievement by the treatment group only. The analysis of an independent sample t-test result indicated that students who were exposed to multiple physical activities prior to their lesson scored the higher academic mean than those students who had learnt the same subjects without performing physical activities. Similarly, the analysis of Pearson correlation coefficient result showed that there was a positive, moderate and significant correlations between students’ attitude towards performing physical activities with their academic achievement. To conclude, exposing students with multiple physical activities prior, during and after the lesson helps to improve their academic achievement. In addition, the finding of this study revealed that students with positive attitude of physical activities can perform better in their academic achievement. Further study can be carried out to investigate the effect of physical activities on students’ achievement in terms of gender difference and the prediction of physical activities to academic achievement. Key Words: Achievement, Attitude, Physical Activities.Item Professional Development and Training on Assessment for Learning and Pre-service Teachers’ Outcomes in Fundamental Concepts of Algebra: A Mixed Method Study(Addis Ababa University, 2023-06) Ayanaw Yigletu; Kassa Michael (PhD)Due to the extensive culture of summative assessment in teacher education, improving pre-service teachers' achievements and their self-regulated learning skills remains a challenge. The aim of this research was to examine the effect of a job-embedded, context-specific, and content-based comprehensive professional development program for mathematics teacher educators on assessment for learning and training for pre-service primary mathematics teachers on self-assessment and peer assessment on the pre-service primary mathematics teachers’ achievement gains, self-regulated learning skills, conceptions of assessment for learning practices, as well as on the implementations of assessment for learning strategies in the teaching and learning of the Fundamental Concepts of Algebra course. In this research, 13 mathematics teacher educators in a teacher education college and 129 pre-service primary mathematics teachers in three different teacher education colleges selected randomly from the ten colleges in Amhara regional state (52 in the intervention group, 38 in comparison group one, and 39 in comparison group two) participated as a sources of data. Three mathematics teacher educators who were assigned to deliver the Fundamental Concepts of Algebra course and their 52 pre-service teachers who took the course participated in the professional development and training, respectively. Thematic analysis of interview data of the conceptions of mathematics teacher educators about assessment for learning revealed that they have an incomplete understanding of assessment for learning. A one-way ANOVA also showed that pre-service primary mathematics teachers in the intervention group outscored pre-service primary mathematics teachers in both comparison groups on their achievement gains in algebra. In addition, a one-way ANOVA showed that pre-service primary mathematics teachers in the intervention group outscored pre-service primary mathematics teachers in both comparison groups on their conceptions of assessment for learning experiences. Furthermore, a paired sample t-test result showed that pre-service primary mathematics teachers’ self-regulated learning skills after the intervention were significantly higher than their self-regulated learning skills before the intervention. Besides, the comprehensive professional development and training improved the implementation of assessment for learning in the teaching and learning of the algebra course. The implications of professional development on assessment for learning are discussed, as are recommendations for further study. Keywords: Professional Development, Assessment for learning, Algebra, Teacher EducationItem Development of Tools and Assessment of Ethiopian Students’ Pattern of Scientific Reasoning at the Upper Primary Level in the Hadiyya Zone(AAU, 2020-12) Abate, Tsedeke; Michael, Kassahun (DrStudies indicate that the failure of science education to meet the needs of the 21st century is to some extent due to the inability to incorporate scientific reasoning and higher order assessments in the school instruction. Though the outcomes of education seek higher-order thinking abilities there is a lack of high ability assessments in low-income nations. The purpose of this mixed methods research is to explore students’ way of reasoning and develop and validate the Scientific Reasoning Progress Tool (SRPT) which measures students’ reasoning abilities. The phenomenographic study was used to explore grade eight students’ patterns of reasoning, and to validate an assessment tool the descriptive survey method was used. The qualitative analysis of students’ interviews elicited three major themes of student views towards different levels of scientific reasoning: naïve, mixed, and scientific along with the underlying ways of reasoning. For the quantitative part of the study, 40 items were developed, pilot tested, and administered for 242 grade eight students at six schools. Rasch Analysis was used to develop and validate the items with the help of Winsteps. It was found that the SRPT is offered as a valid and reliable instrument that is a construct-driven, domain-specific, and a higher-order thinking assessment that can measure students’ reasoning progress. However, it was found that the reasoning ability of grade 8 students’ is limited to lower level reasoning and they faced difficulty in attaining higher-level reasoning like iv generating evidence and drawing conclusions. This study has produced a valid and reliable assessment tool to measure students' scientific reasoning abilities and a theoretical model that could be used to develop assessment tools. The framework and design of this research may be adapted to develop additional instruments to investigate the learning progression of students’ scientific reasoning in middle and high school classes in Ethiopian and other low-income countries.Item Situational Analysis of Students’ Imagination and Creativity through Mathematical Discourse at Babur School in Dire Dawa(Addis Ababa University, 2007-06) Ayalew, Yenealem; Areaya, Solomon (PhD)Mathematics education is a multi-disciplinary field of study which treats a wide range of diverse but interrelated areas. The Philosophy of Mathematics Education as a subfield covers: the status of Mathematics Education as knowledge field; the understanding of, and the meaning we attribute to, mathematics and its nature; purposes and meanings of teaching and learning mathematics; and the relationship between mathematics and society. I recognized that learning mathematics is about discourse, imagination and creativity. The objective of this study was exploring the status of imagination and creativity in a classroom mathematical discourse. Situational Analysis was employed as the method of inquiry to understand the dense complexities of the situation. Data were collected from Dire Dawa city, Eastern Ethiopia using audio-video recordings, field notes, focus group discussions, and documents. Comprehensive data were collected from a grade 12 mathematics classroom at Babur school in the city. The broadly conceived situation and Focused Groups of students within the classroom served as units of analyses. I followed the emic approach to study the socio-cultural and thus meaning makings were supplemented by applying the Ethiopian Orthodox Church interpretive methods. This study has shown that remembering, intuition, ambiguity, visualization, illustration, argumentation, persistence, usefulness, understanding, flexibility, evaluation, fluency, insightful, and originality are common indicators for imagination and creativity. On the other hand, dwellers‘ ―simple‖ and ―harmony‖ life styles were mathematical elements; they have impacted on students‘ fluency and persistence. The socio-cultural mathematics in Dire Dawa is described by mathematizing Christianity and making multiple meanings of one plus one. These were either missed opportunities for or impacting factors in engaging students in imagination and developing their creativity. Furthermore, the study revealed that some problems and activities in the text book that could have been opportunities for developing pattern, prediction and generalization were not delivered in the classroom. This study showed the bi-implication of creativity and imagination with grounded theoring. The research would contribute for popularizing Mathematics Education as a discipline in Ethiopia. Key Terms:- discourse, imagination, creativity, philosophizing, theorizing, situation, mapItem Context-Based Instructional Approaches and Preparatory School Students’ Learning of Rotational Motion(AAU, 2019) Eshetu, Fikadu; Assefa, Shimelis Dr.This study aims to explore the effectiveness of context-based instructional approaches as compared to the traditional instruction on eleventh grade students‟ conceptual understanding, problem-solving skill and their affections toward rotational motion. The study was conducted using an embedded mixed-method research design. For the quantitative part, a multiple group quasi-experimental pre-test post-test control group research design was applied. Students written answers to the tests were also analyzed. Data was also collected from learners and teachers regarding their views on the instructional methods. A total of 166 eleventh grade students of three preparatory schools participated in the study. REACT strategy of context-based instruction and traditional instruction integrated with context-based instruction were used to teach the two treatment groups while traditional method was used in the comparison group. The treatment lasted for seven weeks, and the data were collected through conceptual understanding test, problem-solving skill test and affective characteristics questionnaire. Furthermore, classroom observation and interviews were also used to collect data. The study result revealed that context-based approaches produced a significantly better acquisition of rotational motion concepts than the traditional instruction. The approaches can also be used in the classroom instruction to develop better affections towards physics. Hence, teachers‟ should consider adopting school physics to context- based approaches for raising literate students. With regard to students‟ problem-solving skills, the result shows the existence of mean differences between the groups in favor of treatment groups although this difference was not statistically significant. When solving problems, students give much emphasis on mathematical equations and less emphasis to the concepts. In future studies, both recent problem-solving strategy trainings and active learning methodologies should be used simultaneously for enhancing students‟ problem- solving skills better. Physics text book writers and curriculum developers should have to also rethink of introducing latest problem-solving strategies in students‟ text books. On the other hand, in all the assessed variables, the combined method was slightly better than the REACT strategy as it can be used with optimum time efficiency (i.e., without being too slow or too fast). Hence, others are recommended to try combining traditional instruction with active learning strategies. Furthermore, the approaches are gender friendlyItem The Practice of Managing School Finance in Selected Secondary Schools in Addis Ketema Sub City, Addis Ababa(AAU, 2020) Mekonnen, Adam Bahta; Degefa, Demowez (PhD)The aim of this study was to assess and examine managing school finance in selected secondary school in Addis ketema sub city. Descriptive survey design was used to investigate the practices of financial management in the secondary schools. Quantitatively and qualitatively data analysis methods were used in order to answer the research questions. The study involved a total sample size of eighty four respondents three principals, nine vice-principals, three accountant, three treasures, thirty six department heads, three school supervisor, one education office head, twenty one PSTA members, one finance office heads, three finance plan and budget experts one finance plan and budget expert were used as main source of data. All participants were selected using available sampling techniques. Questionnaires, interview and document analysis were the data collection tools for the study. Questionnaires were conducted with 72 participants and interview with 12 participants. Data analyses were made using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency; percentages, mean and standard deviations were used. The study results revealed that most respondents were aware of the existence of financial management problems in the school. Such as a lack of skilled and experienced, lack of training; constraint of structured financial guide-line and procedures, inadequate control systems; lack of budget planning, lack of stakeholder participation on financial plan and decision making, lack of adequate rule and regulation in the schools on financial issue and lack of monitoring and evaluation of school finance. Overall, the above problems affected not only the effectiveness and efficiency of financial management of the schools but also the whole process of educational activities. Taking in to consideration the above results, it is recommended that all concerned bodies, such as the Addis Abeba Regional Education Bureau, Addis Ketema Sub city Education Office being together should prepare enough work-shop and training for the school personnel and for the concerned bodies in the field of financial management. Furthermore, it can be encouraged to release the allocated schools budget on time, strengthening internal and external auditing in order to reduce the problems of financial management in the government secondaryItem Learning Biology through 7E Instructional Model with Metacognitive Scaffolding and Students’ Motivation(AAU, 2020) Wodaj, Habtamu; Gitari, Wanja DrThe main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 7E instructional model with metacognitive strategies on students’ learning biology and motivation compared to conventional instruction. Moreover, the effect of 7E instructional model alone and conventional instruction with metacognitive strategies on these dependent variables were also investigated. The research method was mixed research method with quasi experimental design with pretest – treatment – posttest - delayed posttest. The study consisted of four schools and four classes (one from each) and assigned as treatment group 1, 2, 3 and comparison group randomly. In treatment group 1, 7E instructional model, in treatment group 2, 7E instructional model with metacognitive strategies, in treatment group 3, conventional instruction with metacognitive strategies and comparison group with conventional instruction alone were used to teach human biology for 10 weeks. Human biology achievement test, human biology conceptual understanding test and motivation questionnaires were administered for all groups as pre test, post test and only human biology achievement tests, human biology conceptual understanding tests were administered as delayed post test. After the treatment, 24 students, six from each group, were interviewed semi- structurally. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used for analysis of the quantitative data and the qualitative data were transcribed, coded and categorized. The results showed that 7E instructional model supported with metacognitive strategies had significantly superior effect over 7E instructional model alone, conventional instruction supported with metacognitive strategies and conventional instruction alone for improving students’ achievements, conceptual understanding and retention of concepts in learning biology and minimizing misconceptions. Moreover, it was found out that 7E instructional model alone was also superior than conventional instruction supported with metacognitive strategies and conventional instruction alone in improving students’ achievements, conceptual understanding and retention of concepts in learning biology and minimizing misconceptions. But conventional instruction supported with metacognitive strategies was not superior to conventional instruction alone in improving students’ achievement, conceptual understanding and retention of concepts in learning biology minimizing misconceptions. The interview results supported these findings. In relation to motivation it was found out that 7E instructional model supported with metacognitive strategies had significantly superior effect over conventional instruction supported with metacognitive strategies and conventional instruction alone but not over 7E instructional model. Similarly, 7E instructional model was superior to conventional approach in enhancing motivation. However, there was no significant difference found between male and female students in learning biologyItem Effect of Conditioning Exercise on Skill Related Physical Fitness Components at Amuru High School of Oromia Region(Addis Ababa University, 2018-03) Geta, Kassahun; Michael, Kassa (PhD); Tadesse, AschanakiThis study attempted to investigate the effect of conditioning exercise on skill related physical fitness components through instructional intervention at Amuru high school. Purposive sampling method to select for four section of grade 9thAmuru secondary school technique because in quasi experimental method Simple random sampling method to select the subjects with experimental group and control group by lottery was used to select 76 female and 74 male grade 9th students aged 15 to 17 years fromAmuru high school. Exercise programs of conditioning exercises were performed in a form of training for the experimental group under this study for eight weeks. The activity was given from April 25 to June 25/ 2015, with the frequency of 3 days per week for 2 months and the duration was 40 minutes per session. The skill related physical fitness variables selected for the study were: speed, coordination, agility, balance, power and reaction time. Data were analyzed by using paired samples t- test with pair wise comparison of means at 95% confidence interval for both pre and posttests, and across comparison and experimental groups. The results indicated that there were significant improvements on skill related physical fitness variables due to the effects of conditioning exercise training with active rest (p ≤ 0.05). This study confirmed that conditioning exercise training with active rest was significant to improve the speed, coordination, agility, balance, power and reaction time variables. The study showed that students who were exposed to conditioning exercise training have revealed positive outcomes towards the speed, coordination, agility, balance, power and reaction time. Key words፡ conditioning exercise, fitness, intensity, physical activity, physical fitness