Title:
ORDINARY LEVEL STUDENTS’ PERCEIVED ERRORS IN EARTH GEOMETRY: IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTRUCTIONS

Authors:
Maybin Kabaso and Emmanuel Chinamasa

Abstract:
This study sought Ordinary Level students’ errors in Earth Geometry. It was motivated by the Examination Council of Zambia which pointed out that, the majority of secondary school students are failing to answer Earth Geometry problems. Given a choice, they would not even attempt Earth Geometry questions during examinations. The study was guided by pragmatism, which emphasizes a method that works to find a solution to a problem. A descriptive survey based on a case study of one secondary school and district was carried out. Data was collected from 45 Ordinary Level students from one school and 25 teachers from Mwense district, who responded to a self-reporting questionnaire followed by interviews for in-depth understanding. There was an agreement between teachers and students on the type of errors. Pearson’s correlation coefficient r=0.8. The study found that students made errors of calculating the shortest distance between points that are diametrically opposite and those on the same latitude, time difference between places, location of points on the globe, calculating latitude, difference between two places and computation of the circumference of the circle of latitude. Errors were arising from the content of the topic (earth geometry) itself, inadequacy of teachers’ content knowledge, teachers’ use of lecture method encouraged rote memorization, students’ negative attitude toward the topic and the language of instruction. The study recommends district workshop on instructional strategies for Mathematics teachers, introducing a topic language session, structuring content introductory exercises, teaching students using activity based approaches with appropriate teaching and learning aids and integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) through computer simulations and videos