Project Materials

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND STUDY

The global pandemic of the COVID-19 pandemic has spread globally, reaching almost all countries and territories, according to Adnan et al (2020). The epidemic was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Countries all over the world warned the public to exercise restraint. Hand washing, facial masks, physical distancing, and resisting mass gatherings and meetings have also been seen as public health measures. In order to flatten the curve and monitor the spread of the pandemic, lockdown and stay-at-home methods have been implemented.

During the second week of March 2020, Bhutan announced the closure of schools and organizations, as well as a cut in trading hours. From August 1st, the whole country was placed on lockdown. 2020 Adnan et al (2020).In the meantime, people were able to travel about, workplaces resumed, schools and colleges reopened at some degrees, and others started with online classes. The school closure has impacted more than 170,000 Bhutanese children in grades PP–XII. The consequences are far-reaching, and they have had an effect on learning this academic year and will continue to do so in the coming days. Face-to-face instruction has been phased out at a number of districts, colleges, and universities.Alternative instructional and evaluation methods must be developed and implemented quickly. The COVID-19 pandemic has given us the chance to pave the way for automated learning to be implemented.

The mathematics classroom is a space where students and teachers interact, discuss mathematical concepts, exchange thoughts, and learn together in most parts of the world. Teachers engage with pupils, track and encourage their progress, and often teachers use a variety of interactive and non-digital tools to teach and study mathematics.In March of 2020, Teachers and students remain segregated in many parts of the world. Schools are locked, and the only way to communicate with other students or the instructor is by phone calls or interactive meetings.Teachers consider their own instruction and are aware in the difficulty of ensuring educational fairness through their actions. This indicates that knowledge is inextricably tied to a society’s overall structure.One of the institutions that make up society is the classroom. It is founded on human values that demand that humanity progress by handing on to future generations the wisdom accrued over centuries and a need to improve it for the good and security of all people. When an accident occurs that disrupts society’s entire structure, the school must respond and demonstrate its ability to do so.At various stages, mathematics has an effect on all facets of human life. Society views mathematics as the basis of scientific technical understanding, which is critical to a country’s socialeconomic growth. It was made in recognition of the large applications of mathematics. (Jeynes, 2011) argue that the best way to attain a disciplined and orderly pattern of life is to cultivate a mathematical community.Unfortunately, students’ success in this significant subject at the basic, secondary, and tertiary levels of education in Nigeria has not been promising over the years. The poorest result in the 2013/2014 academic year first semester test for Colleges of Education in Nigeria was in Mathematics, according to the Ministry of Education’s Chief Examiners (Numbers and Basic Algebra).According to reports sent to the Colleges of Education, 32.9 percent of candidates who took the mathematics paper (Numbers and Basic Algebra) received D or D+ ratings, while 20.9 percent failed the subjects. Educators, trainers, and scholars have long been involved in determining what factors contribute to the success of learners’ mathematics results.These factors can occur both within and outside of the classroom and have an effect on students’ academic success. Student factors, family factors, school factors, and peer factors are examples of these factors.

Digital technology usage in mathematics classrooms was stated to be uneven in consistency, quantity, and effectiveness prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (OECD 2016). While some see the use of new technologies as a necessity in the classroom, there were still many concerns about how and where it could be used, as well as whether it transformed and enhanced students’ math experiences.Teachers were compelled to rely on new technologies as the primary teaching and learning resource as a result of the educational crisis triggered by COVID-19, regardless of their current technology-related values and practices.This abrupt transition may provide an opportunity for dramatic changes in how mathematics educators use technology in potential face-to-face, online, and hybrid classroom teaching.

Despite international issues about pupil disengagement and declining enrolments in mathematics classes, technology use has the potential to cause instability in mathematics education.While the affordances of digital mobile technologies align with a social constructivist teaching approach that promotes collaboration, communication, creativity, and problem-solving, teacher resistance to technologically driven innovation inside classroom teaching is not uncommon for a variety of reasons, suggesting that despite the affordances of digital mobile technologies aligning with a social constructivist teaching approach that promotes collaboration, communication, creativity, and problem-solving, technology use overwhelmingly continues to be limited to content co-creation.

Effectively integrating new technology into mathematics teaching and learning is a difficult challenge that necessitates careful analysis of a number of factors, including pedagogy, content, and student learning. If new devices are not incorporated into the learning environment in substantive ways as a result of covid­-19,They have the potential to be ineffective, destructive, and sometimes damaging. Via integrated and flipping learning techniques, online learning platforms offer affordances that may enable mathematics teachers to redefine activities as they typically exist in mathematics classrooms, undermining conventional ways to mediate substantive student-student and student-teacher interactions.

Covid-19 has had a huge impact on not only the educational system as a whole, but also on the teaching and learning of mathematics in schools. Students’ interest in mathematics has waned as a result of the lack of conventional classroom teaching and learning, resulting in low academic performance in Schools in Esan west local government area of Edo state.The implementation of online learning as a result of the pandemic was a positive idea, but it wasn’t fully applied due to some of the difficulties discussed in the study.Therefore is study centers on the effect of covid-19 on teaching and learning of mathematics students Esan west local government area.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The complexities of the Covid-19 pandemic have resulted in the unplanned closing of all schools and institutions of learning in Nigeria, and the Covid-19 pandemic is now the main thrust at all levels of government and society at large. As a result, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Nigerian education, including how it affects mathematics teaching and studying, students’ academic interests, the role of e-learning, and traditional classroom learning, is severely harmed as a result of the pandemic.Over all, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the emphasis put on e-learning as a palliative has devalued the traditional classroom learning method, which fosters learning engagement between mathematics teachers and mathematics students in the teaching and learning of mathematics within and beyond the classroom.A close examination reveals that the severity attached to e-learning during this crucial time of the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have influenced the traditional way of teaching and learning mathematics, adversely impacting students’ academic performance in mathematics, due to the hiccups often encountered while using e-learning or ict gadgets in the teaching and learning process. This therefore, should be a concern to Stakeholders in Education and majorly all mathematics teachers and students. Hence, the research seeks to investigate the effect of Covid-19 onteaching and learning of mathematics students in esan west local government area, the research also focus on the online teaching and learning process of mathematics in schools.

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

In line with the statement of research problems the objectives of the study are to determine the effect of Covid-19 on teaching and learning of mathematics student’s in Esan West Local Government Area. The objectives therefore are:

1) To examine impact of covid-19 on the educational system

2) To examine factors the influence academic performance of mathematics students in Esan west local government area

3) To examine learning and teaching of mathematics on digital platforms during covid-19 in Esan west local government area

4) To examine the challenges with online teaching and learning during covid-19 in Esan west local government area

5) To examine opportunities of teaching and learning during covid-19

1.4     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1) What is the impact of covid-19 on the educational system?

2) Whatare factors the influence academic performance of mathematics students in Esan west local government area?

3) What is learning and teaching of mathematics on digital platforms during covid-19 in Esan west local government area?

4) What are the challenges with online teaching and learning during covid-19 in Esan west local government area?

5) To examine opportunities of teaching and learning during covid 19?

1.5     HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

H0:covid-19 does not have a significant effect on the academic performance of school students in mathematics in Esan west local government area

H1:Covid-19 has a significant effect on the academic performance of school students in mathematics in Esan west local government area

1.6     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study would enable the researcher to pass their experience on the subject matter to teachers,educational administrators, schools (students)to serve as a medium for further research

1.7   SCOPE OF THE STUDY   

The study would coverThe Effect of Covid-19 on Teaching and Learning of Mathematics Students in Esan West Local Government Area. The study would encompass teachers, students, Households etc.

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The researcher was faced with the following constraints in carrying out this study:

Time: The time within the researcher is too short to carry on the detail study on this topic.

Resources: Another constraint of the researcher is financial resources to carry on the detail study of this topic.

Data: Another limitation to this study will be lack of data to make valid study on the research problem.

1.9 OPREATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

TEACHING: Teaching is the process of attending to people’s needs, experiences and feelings, and making specific interventions to help them learn particular things. They are grouping together teaching, learning and assessment and adding in some other things around the sort of outcomes they want to see.

LEARNING: Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind of learning in certain plants

COVID 19: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is defined as illness caused by a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV), which was first identified amid an outbreak of respiratory illness cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.

MATHEMATICS: Mathematics includes the study of such topics as quantity, structure, space, and change. It has no generally accepted definition. Mathematicians seek and use patterns to formulate new conjectures; they resolve the truth or falsity of such by mathematical proof.

STUDENT:A student is primarily a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution and who is under learning with goals of acquiring knowledge, developing professions and achieving easy employment at a particular field.