Teachers' perceptions of the cognitive objectives of grade nine algebra and geometry

Hickey, Brenda Marie (1989) Teachers' perceptions of the cognitive objectives of grade nine algebra and geometry. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The study was undertaken to investigate the perceptions of grade nine mathematics teachers with respect to the ranking of 50 cognitive objectives for grade nine algebra and geometry. -- Attempts were made to ascertain if any differences existed among the teachers in their perceptions of the importance of the objectives relative to the number of mathematics and mathematics education courses completed, total teaching experience, experience in teaching the grade nine program, grade(s) in which the teachers are presently teaching mathematics, and whether the community can be classified as rural, urban, or semi-urban. -- A questionnaire was developed comprising of 50 objectives which was administered to 180 randomly selected grade nine mathematics teachers. -- From the data analysis it was concluded that: -- 1. There was no relationship between teachers' ranking of the objectives and any of the variables examined. The number of mathematics courses completed was the variable that determined the greatest differences among the teachers. -- 2. Significant differences at the 0.05 level were found between emphasis given to algebra and geometry with algebra receiving more emphasis than geometry. -- 3. Significant differences at the 0.05 level were found for differences in emphasis given to low level cognitive objectives and high level cognitive objectives with low level objectives receiving more empahsis. -- 4. No consensus of opinion was observed among the teachers in relation to listing the five most important and the five least important objectives. -- Based on these results, implications concerning the discrepancy between the intended and implemented curriculum were discussed. It was recommended that a future study could examine the effect of teachers' attitude towards geometry on their perception of the importance of geometry objectives.

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