Assessment Of Errors Made By Secondary School Student’s That Influence Achievement In Solving Word Problems In Mathematics In Gatanga Sub-County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to analyze and establish the errors made by secondary school students that influence achievement in solving word problems in mathematics in Gatanga subcounty, Murang’a County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to: establish the errors made by secondary school students; investigate the sources of these errors; identify the gender differences in the errors made and determine the methods used to remediate these errors in solving word problems in mathematics. The study hypotheses were: Ho1: There is no significant relationship between errors made by students and type of school they attend in solving word problems in mathematics; Ho2: There is no significant relationship between the errors made by students and their sources in solving word problems in mathematics. H03: There is no significant relationship between errors made and gender of student in solving word problems in mathematics. The literature review highlighted studies, opinions, suggestions and recommendations on errors made and their effects on achievement in solving word problems in mathematics. The research adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey employing correlation methods. A total of thirty two secondary schools and fifty eight trained mathematics teachers were targeted for the study. Nine secondary schools were selected using stratified sampling. Two hundred and seventy eight students and twenty four teachers were selected for the study using random sampling. Students’ Mathematics Test, Trained Mathematics Teachers Questionnaire and Interview schedule for students were used to collect data on errors made in solving word problems in mathematics in Gatanga sub-county. Data was analyzed by use of SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Data obtained was presented in tabular and graphical forms. The findings of this study showed that students made a variety of errors in solving mathematics word problems. These errors included computational errors, wrong equations, wrong facts, premature approximations and wrong formulation. A chi square test revealed that there was no significant relationship between errors made and the gender of the students in solving word problems in mathematics (χ2 (4, N=278) = 3.22, p