EFFECT OF COGNITIVELY GUIDED INSTRUCTION ON PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES AND THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNERS’ MATHEMATICAL ABILITIES: MOMBASA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Research has shown that the achievement of pupils correlates positively with the knowledge and professional competence of the teacher. This study was designed to determine the effects of Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) on teachers’ pedagogical practices and their perceptions of learners’ mathematical abilities. The pedagogical practices in focus were Teaching Skills and Learning Activities designed by the teachers to achieve specific learning outcomes. Mathematical abilities were categorised into Conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge. An ex post facto research design was used for this study with the experimental group being drawn from the teachers enrolled for the Programme for Teachers of Mathematics (PTM), a professional development programme conducted by the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. The control group was drawn from the same area of study but from schools that were not participating in the PTM. Purposive sampling was used to select 36 teachers from a target population of all primary school teachers in Mombasa County, and an accessible population of 56 teachers from the PTM. The study used three research instruments (The Lesson Observation Schedule, The Teacher Perception Questionnaire and the Mombasa Context Model Questionnaire) to gather the required data. The findings of the pilot study were tested for reliability using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient at a significance level of 0.05 and adjustments to the instruments made accordingly. The data was analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Frequencies, percentages, mean ranks and sum of ranks were used to summarise the data and describe the characteristics of the participants while the Mann-Whitney U test and the Chi-Square test were used to test the hypotheses. The study established that the CGI had a significant effect on Teaching Skills and Learning Activities used by primary school teachers of mathematics. The CGI teachers applied Teaching Skills that facilitated the development of problem solving skills among the learners. The group of teachers also selected and modelled Learning Activities that facilitated the development of thinking skills. It also established that teachers from the CGI group had positive perceptions of their learners’ mathematical abilities. A strong positive relationship was established between Teaching Skills and Teachers’ Perceptions of their learners’ mathematical abilities and between Learning Activities and teachers’ perception of their learners’ mathematical abilities. Based on the findings, a Teacher Performance Prediction Model was developed using the logistic regression model. The results of the study are of benefit to teachers, parents and other education stakeholders as it provides empirical evidence on the effect of CGI training on pedagogical practices and teachers’ perceptions of their learners’ mathematical abilities. It is also beneficial to teacher trainers as they consider methods of maximising the training outcomes of primary school teachers. A number of recommendations were made for policy and further study based on the findings of the current study. One of the recommendations for policy was that the CGI training should be incorporated into the teacher training curriculum. Regarding further studies, one of the recommendations was that an investi