Investigating strategies that enhance mathematical cognitive development among Primary School children

Abstract: The mastery of basic number operations cannot be separated from problem solving in mathematics. Understanding mathematics involves mathematical cognition as it is heavily informed by the learner‘s ability to reason at an abstraction level since mathematics is relatively abstract. Instructional strategies used by teachers served as the independent variable(s) for this study. Its intent was to promote math instruction that emphasises problem-solving which should encourage learners to reason at an abstract level. The purpose of this study is to impact the teaching and learning of mathematics among Primary school learners and to suggest strategies that might help to enhance mathematics cognition and improve students‘ performance in mathematics problem solving. Primary school learners are in the concrete operational stage of development according to Piaget‘s cognitive stages of development. Most learners can reason at this level, but their reasoning is based on tangible objects and direct experiences. From a constructivist view learners construct their own knowledge and the learning of subject matter is the product of an interaction between what they are taught and the knowledge they bring to the learning situation, however it becomes the teachers responsibility to make sure that the child does acquire enough skills in perceiving, thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. Children have to be guided by leading questions and sometimes need to be shown the solution to a problem and then letting them solve a similar problem by themselves, or initiating the solution to a problem. The data of this study was collected through interviews, classroom observations and a questionnaire. A qualitative data approach was used and the results revealed that teaching mathematics problem solving is the biggest challenge that most teachers face and hence learners lack to develop mathematically, however the study also found that when teachers plan their lessons effectively and make time to incorporate problem solving into their lessons and make use of tangible objects such as concrete examples linking it with direct experiences that learners can relate to; that learners found vi themselves at a level of productive disposition where they saw sense in mathematics and perceive it as both useful and worthwhile.M.Ed. (Mathematics Education