ASSESSMENT OF TEACHERS’ CREATIVITY IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KEFFI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF NASARAWA STATE

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to assess teachers’ creativity in teaching mathematics in secondary schools in Keffi LGA of Nasarawa State. One hundred SS2 students and ten mathematics teachers were selected from five senior secondary schools in Keffi LGA through stratified random sampling technique. The descriptive survey design was used. Two instruments developed by the researcher were used to collect the data. The Pearson’s product moment correlation statistic was used to test reliability of the instruments to obtain the reliability coefficient of r = 0.87 for teacher’s questionnaire and r = 0.74 for student’s questionnaire. Three hypothesis were formulated and tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that there is no significant difference in the mean responses between male and female teachers’ use of creativity in teaching mathematics. Also there is no significant difference between the mean responses of teachers’ use of creativity in teaching mathematics on the basis of experience. There is significant difference between the mean responses of professional and non-professional teachers on use of creativity in teaching mathematics. The findings of the study revealed that, teachers used creativity assessment scale of originality, flexibility, fluency and motivation in teaching mathematics to foster creativity, but they rarely used fluency and no proper used of motivation component of creativity since; Mathematics teachers do not organize practical lessons for students in mathematics to enhance their performance, Mathematics teachers do not use audio-visual and computer-assisted instruction in teaching mathematics in their schools. Based on the findings it was recommended that Mathematics teachers should endeavour to relate mathematics concepts to real life situations by proper utilization of fluency and motivation.