COMPROMISED PEDAGOGY: HOW CALCULATOR ABUSE UNDERMINES THE QUALITY OF MATHEMATICS INSTRUCTION IN NIGERIAN PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

The indiscriminate use of scientific calculators in secondary mathematics classrooms threatens pedagogical quality and conceptual learning, yet teacher perspectives on this phenomenon remain underexamined in sub-Saharan African contexts. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to explore how experienced mathematics educators perceive calculator abuse and its impact on instructional quality in private secondary schools. Ten mathematics teachers (80% with 5+ years experience) from five selected schools in Enugu South, Nigeria, completed a validated Likert-scale questionnaire assessing seven dimensions of pedagogical quality reduction and participated in classroom observations. Findings revealed strong consensus (mean = 3.51/4.0, SD = 0.55) that calculator abuse significantly undermines teaching quality across multiple dimensions: preventing students from learning foundational skills (M = 3.20), failing to stimulate challenging mathematical thinking (M = 3.88), fostering unhealthy dependency (M = 3.16), promoting cognitive passivity and diminished critical thinking (M = 3.72), preventing conceptual mastery of core topics (M = 3.24), and creating obstacles for students who lack proficiency with the device (M = 3.53). Teachers emphasised that while calculators serve valid computational functions, they do not facilitate genuine mathematical learning without deliberate pedagogical integration. These findings align with Cognitive Load Theory and suggest that effective calculator integration requires threshold-based implementation—delaying introduction until junior secondary foundations are established, combined with explicit instruction on appropriate use contexts. The study contributes to limited African education literature on technology-pedagogy interfaces and provides an evidence base for curriculum policy in resource-constrained contexts.