ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF MATHEMATICAL CONTENTS OF ECONOMICS THAT ARE DIFFICULT FOR SUSTAINABLE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU URBAN by Ejimonye Jovita Chinelo, Eneogu Njideka. D and Ugwuanyi, Christian S

ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF MATHEMATICAL CONTENTS OF ECONOMICS THAT ARE DIFFICULT FOR SUSTAINABLE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU URBAN

 

 Ejimonye Jovita Chinelo, Eneogu Njideka. D. Ph.D

Department of Social Science Education

University of Nigeria, Nsukka

And

Ugwuanyi, Christian. S. Ph.D

Department of Science Education

University of Nigeria, Nsukka

 

Abstract

This study investigated students’ perception of mathematical contents of economics for sustainable teaching and learning in Economics in secondary schools in Enugu Urban. Three research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The design adopted for the study was descriptive survey. The population of the study comprises all the senior secondary school two (SS2) economics students in public secondary schools in Enugu Urban numbering 7,634. A sample of 228 students was selected using purposive sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a structured 28-item questionnaire titled: Assessment of students’ perception of mathematical contents of Economics Questionnaire. The instrument was developed by the researchers and validated by three experts. The reliability of the instrument was estimated to be 0.87 using Cronbach Alpha method. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data collected while t-test of independent samples was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed among others that candidates found drawing and explaining diagrams, knowledge of what a product function is and drawing and explaining the relationship between total, marginal and average product curves to be difficult. It also revealed that candidates are afraid of mathematical contents of economics and they don’t have good economics textbooks. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that students should take mathematics more seriously as it would enable them perform better in Economics and parents should encourage their children from primary school to develop interest in Mathematics and Economics and reinforce them positively when they do well.