Identification of Mathematical Learning Difficulties among the Secondary School Students of Humanities Group of District Lahore

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of students with mathematical learning disabilities (MLD) in secondary general mathematics classes. A sample of 344 pupils was chosen specifically for this purpose. The phrase "learning difficulty" does not imply a lack of intelligence; rather, it indicates that a learner may experience difficulties as a result of environmental, educational, emotional, and physical variables. It involved creating a screening checklist to identify general mathematics students who have mathematical learning difficulties (MLD) and creating a mathematical aptitude test comprised of exams known as the Mathematical Ability Test (MAT). Experts in the relevant field provided their opinions to confirm the screening checklist and diagnostic test's content validity. The Mathematical Ability Test's reliability was assessed using the 0.584 Cronbach's alpha coefficient. It was discovered that the Mathematical Ability Test's concurrent validity was 0.401. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to examine the information gathered. The gender, rural location, low and high achievers, and other student characteristics were compared among the students using an independent sample t-test. At the secondary level, the proportion of female students experiencing learning challenges in mathematics is significantly higher than that of male students. The percentages of male and female students with learning disabilities were 0.5039 and 0.4892, respectively. The average percentage of kids that learn maths is 49.65%. It was strongly advised that a training programme be started in order to increase the capacity of secondary school math teachers. In addition, educators must employ activity-based pedagogical strategies to ensure that mathematics is learned effectively and permanently.