Maximizing Content-Based Knowledge of the Novice Teachers in Mathematics: An Experimental Study

Abstract

This study used an experimental approach to find out the effect of content-based professional development training in mathematics on novice primary school teachers’ achievement in mathematics. Professional development training to in-service teachers provides need-based support to maximize their knowledge in the areas they need support. The study has its theoretical bases on Knowles (1984) theory of adult learning that assumed that adults should be involved in the planning and evaluation of their learning as this experience provides them basis to teach the subject which is relevant to their lives. 140 primary school teachers from rural areas of Sheikhupura district were clustered into 5 places for intervention. The intervention included hands on activities related to mathematics lasted 40 hours to mathematics teachers during the span of one week. The study employed one group pre-test post-test experimental design. The teachers were pretested and post-tested on a researcher-made test related to Mathematics content knowledge taken from grade 5 textbook of mathematics. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The study revealed that achievement scores in posttest of the teachers were better as compared to pre-test for the mathematics subject. The researcher recommended that continuous professional development programs should be in practice to provide in-service teachers especially the novice teachers to support them.