Walking Mathematics Students through the Maze of Chi-square Test of Independence and Homogeneity, Test Involving Several Proportions, and Goodness-of-fit Test
Charles Kojo Assuah *
Department of Mathematics Education, University of Education, Winneba, P.O. Box 25, Winneba, Ghana.
Thomas Mensah‒Wonkyi
Department of Mathematics Education, University of Education, Winneba, P.O. Box 25, Winneba, Ghana.
Matilda Sarpong Adusei
Department of Mathematics Education, University of Education, Winneba, P.O. Box 25, Winneba, Ghana.
Stephen Ghunney
A.M.E Zion Girls Senior High School, Winneba Senior High Schools, Winneba, Ghana.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study illustrates some practical steps lecturers could use to enable students to apply the chi-square concept. The study relied on a definition and theorem based on the chi-square theoretical model. The participants consisted of seventy (70) (fifty-five (55) males and fifteen (15) females) level 100 mathematics students from a university in Ghana. They were all admitted from the public senior high schools across the country. The students completed the tasks assigned to them in their various groups through active learning, as their lecturer facilitated the process. The lecturer guided the students to complete tasks related to the applications of the chi-square test in solving problems. The results indicated that active learning exposed the students to varied ways to apply the chi-square test. An implication of this study is that lecturers should teach their students about theorems and their related proofs and applications. These theorems are significant in mathematics learning because they are absolute truths. They enable students to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying concepts. The study concludes that by working with concrete examples, students gradually internalized their concept-acquisition skills to the extent that they confidently identified what concept to apply to every question.
Keywords: Theorems, definitions, chi-square theoretical model, absolute truths, applications