How learning and teaching of mathematics can be made interesting: a study based on statistical analysis

摘要

In this article, we evaluate the true proportion of mathematics educators and teachers at under/post graduate levels in Karachi, Pakistan in making math courses lively to students. We use a random sample of 75 students of engineering and commerce studying in three different universities namely University of Karachi, Usman Institute of Technology (UIT) and Karachi Institute of Economics & Technology (PAF-KIET). A 95% confidence interval based on sample results reveals that the said proportion of math educators is in between 63 and 83%. Furthermore, we investigate with the help of students' responses how mathematics teachers at under/post graduate levels make their courses interesting - by showing their dedication in their subject, by giving logical reasoning and concrete examples or by making complex mathematical methods accessible to students giving them know-how of mathematical softwares. We find that the second technique is the most dominant and has a very strong impact (positive linear relationship) in achieving the said goal of a math-teacher. The linear correlation coefficient between students' opinion that math-teachers make their courses interesting and achieving this goal by giving logical reasoning and concrete examples is 0.989. Whereas the technique of using math softwares in attempt to make a math course lively has also a very strong but a cubic relationship and its multiple correlation coefficient is 0.984. Therefore, using technology in math classroom is also helpful in making math learning and teaching interesting but under some conditions that become apparent from our study made on the real data hence obtained.