INNOVATIVE TEACHING PRACTICES AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS EDUCATORS IN KEFFI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NASARAWA STATE

This study aimed to evaluate the creative teaching practices employed by secondary school mathematics educators in Keffi Local Government Area (LGA) of Nasarawa State. A total of one hundred SS2 students and ten mathematics teachers were selected from five senior secondary schools in Keffi LGA using a stratified random sampling technique. The research utilized a descriptive survey design, with two instruments developed by the researcher for data collection. The reliability of the instruments was assessed using Pearson’s product-moment correlation statistic, yielding a reliability coefficient of r = 0.87 for the teacher’s questionnaire and r = 0.74 for the student’s questionnaire.

Three hypotheses were formulated and tested using a t-test at a 0.05 significance level. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in the mean responses between male and female teachers regarding their use of creativity in teaching mathematics. Furthermore, no significant difference was found in the mean responses of teachers’ use of creativity in teaching mathematics based on their level of experience. However, a significant difference was observed in the mean responses between professional and non-professional teachers in their use of creativity for teaching mathematics.

The study’s findings revealed that teachers incorporated creativity assessment components such as originality, flexibility, fluency, and motivation in their mathematics teaching practices. Nevertheless, there was limited utilization of fluency and insufficient use of motivational aspects of creativity. Additionally, it was noted that mathematics teachers rarely organized practical lessons or employed audio-visual and computer-assisted instruction methods in their teaching.

Based on these findings, it is recommended that mathematics teachers should strive to connect mathematical concepts with real-life situations, emphasizing the effective utilization of fluency and motivation. Furthermore, the integration of practical lessons and the incorporation of audio-visual and computer-assisted instructional tools should be encouraged to enhance students’ mathematical performance.

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