Prevalence of Students with Learning Difficulties in Mathematics at Primary Level in Punjab

Abstract

This study aimed to find out the prevalence of students with learning difficulties in the subject of mathematics at primary level. Twenty-three hundred and ninety-two (2392) students were selected as a sample for this purpose. The term learning difficulty is not an indication of intelligence levels, but it means that the students may face problems resulting from physical, educational, emotional and environmental factors. It included the development of screening checklist for the identification of students with learning difficulties in Mathematics and the diagnostic test consisting of four subtests: 1-Pre-number Concepts Test (PNT), 2-Number Diagnostic Test (NDT), 3-Arithmetic Operations Test (AOT), and 4-Geometry Diagnostic Test (GDT). Content validity of the screening checklist and the diagnostic test were ensured through the opinion of the experts of the relevant field. Reliability of screening checklist and the diagnostic test was determined through Cronbach’s alpha coefficient which was .83 and .80 respectively. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were applied to analyze the collected data. Independent sample t-test was used to find out the difference among the students with respect to gender, rural area, low and high achievers. The prevalence of the female students with learning difficulties in the subject of mathematics comparatively higher as compared to male students at primary level. Prevalence of male and female students with learning difficulties was 15.4 and 20.2 percent respectively. The prevalence of students with learning in mathematics is 15.6 percent. It was highly recommended that training programme should launch for the capacity building of the teachers teaching mathematics at primary level. Moreover teachers have to use the activity based pedagogical skills for the effective and forever learning in the subject of mathematics.