The impacts of teaching real-life applications in a mathematics classroom of a selected school / Mauva Abdullah

Abstract:

The main aim of the study is to find out the impacts of real- life application in a grade eight Mathematics classroom of a selected Maldivian school. Mathematics is an important subject which the students have to learn to apply in real- world situations. The problem of lack of real-life application in secondary class is clearly seen. Therefore, there is a need to find out the benefits encountered to utilize real-life application. To achieve this objective two main questions were designed. The questions were: 1. To what extent do children benefit by applying real-life applications in mathematics classroom? 2. How do these applications contribute to students' learning?
A qualitative case study method was employed to achieve the objective of the study. To gain in-depth data, semi structured interviews were conducted in which two students and two Mathematics teachers were purposefully chosen in a selected school. The participants were interviewed individually in order to collect data. The data collected were transcribed and analysed using inductive data analysis technique. The themes were transcribed and analysed using inductive data analysis technique. The themes generated were later interpreted and discussed in relation to other data, theories and past studies.

The finding of the study indicated that real-life applications impacted student's better understanding of concepts, students' achievement and skills development. The participants stated that time constraints and huge syllabus were the main obstacles for the conducting real-life activities in the secondary classes.