Learning styles and strategies of Ethiopian secondary school students in learning mathematics

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify preferred learning styles and strategies of secondary school students and to examine the prevailing problems that restrict them to use their own preferences. The study was intended to highlight a number of issues that need to be revealed and addressed in the learning of mathematics. The types of preferred learning styles and strategies students need to employ in learning mathematics, the assistance students require from their teachers, the conduciveness of the design of mathematics curriculum and the challenges they might face to use their own preferred learning styles and strategies in the learning of mathematics were addressed as basic research questions. The study dealt with various elements that were related to environmental, emotional, sociological, physiological and psychological categories of learning in the identification of the types of learning styles and strategies. This study is believed to contribute a lot in addressing the problems of learning styles and strategies, provide feedback to the concerned government bodies to help them improve the teaching learning processes in secondary schools. It is also to reduce the bias or prejudice on mathematics by assisting students to use their own preferred learning styles and strategies, and contribute to further investigations to make the learning of mathematics more enjoyable, participatory and lifelong career. This study was conducted in four secondary schools in West Shoa Zone. A qualitative method that was descriptive in nature was employed in the study while the instruments of the study were questionnaires and an interview. The sample comprised of 249 (128 male and 121 female) secondary school students and 30 (25 male and 5 female) secondary school mathematics teachers selected randomly. The result has shown that students were not learning mathematics on the basis of their preferred learning styles and strategies and the teachers were practicing autocratic teaching styles. Most of the students did not prefer learning mathematics through plasma television; they required brief outlines and concrete presentations, and indicated that there is not enough time to check and recheck the answers they found for the problems. These imply that the organization of secondary school mathematics curriculum requires reform to accommodate the preferred learning styles and strategies of students.