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Literature is replete with research confirming the benefits of cooperative learning on students’ academic achievement and attitude towards mathematics. Despite these benefits, cooperative learning implementation in most Zambian secondary school mathematics classrooms has remained a challenge. An explanatory sequential mixed methods research design was employed to determine the causes of teacher-resistance to cooperative learning implementation in selected schools. A cluster random sampling method was used to select 62 teachers (43 male and 19 female) of mathematics from six public secondary schools in Ndola district of Zambia. A questionnaire was administered to all the 62 teachers followed by lesson observations in six randomly selected grade 11 mathematics classrooms, whose teachers later attended a focus group discussion. Research findings revealed that the majority of participants prefer expository teaching to cooperative learning. More than 64% of the participants indicated that they resisted implementing cooperative learning in their classrooms due to shortcomings in; assessing learners, ensuring a disciplined class environment, completing the already bulky syllabus, handling large classes, students’ low reasoning abilities and preparation time versus high teaching loads. These results provide evidence on the need for more attention to how the identified challenges could be addressed not only in Zambian mathematics classrooms but in other educational settings elsewhere. Keywords: cooperative learning, expository teaching, mathematics classrooms, mixed methods research.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected human life at different levels and is still a tremendous challenge for all sectors of life without exception to education. To cope with those COVID-19 effects in education, online teaching and learning was adopted. This study throws light on online learning situation in higher education in Rwanda. The study is geared by interpretivist approach. Data were collected in a series of online individual interviews and focus group discussions with twenty master students from different subjects offered by the African Centre of Excellence for Innovative Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science (ACEITLMS). The gathered data were analysed thematically. The study revealed communication platforms, ICT infrastructures and software, and online resources as opportunities for online learning. Despite learners' willingness to play their part in online learning, the study further brought to light numerous challenges of learning mathematics and science such as absence of practical activities, inadequate support for structured exercises, few open resources and inadequate access to online resources. Limited internet connectivity, English proficiency coupled with insufficient collaboration among students and with facilitators were reported as limitation too. Since online mode of instruction was adopted for effective blended learning, its adjustment and adaptation are needed to grab the identified opportunities and cautiously address the identified challenges.

Literature is well-stocked with studies confirming that an instructional approach, self-efficacy, and mathematical reasoning skills are critical for enhancing students’ conceptual understanding and achievement in mathematics. However, there has been little emphasis on establishing whether being able to reason mathematically depends only on the instructional approach or students’ self-efficacy beliefs about mathematics also play a hidden role. A quasi-experimental study involving 301 grade 11 students from six public secondary schools in one district was carried out to investigate the mediating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between instruction and students’ mathematical reasoning. Participants of the study were selected using the cluster random sampling method. Data were collected before and after the intervention via a mathematical reasoning test and a mathematics self-efficacy beliefs questionnaire. A Parallel Multiple Mediator Model in SPSS using the PROCESS custom dialogue version 3.4 was employed for data analysis. Findings suggest that mathematics self-efficacy and task-specific self-efficacy beliefs collectively and significantly mediate the effect of the instructional approach on students’ mathematical reasoning. The Student Teams-Achievement Division (STAD) was found to be an effective approach for enhancing students’ mathematical reasoning alongside self-efficacy beliefs. These findings provide evidence on the need to select an instructional approach that does not only focus on developing students’ cognitive abilities such as mathematical reasoning but also fosters students’ affective attributes such as maths self-efficacy beliefs.

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