Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.5, No.28, 2014 209 Teaching Permutation and Combination Using Play-way Method Deborah Olufunmilayo Makinde Department of Mathematics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife 220005, Nigeria. domakinde.comp@gmail.com, dmakinde@oauife.edu.ng Abstract Mathematics from ages have proved itself to be a fearful subject probably because of its high demand of great thinking capability. As if that is not enough, the poor presentation and unfriendly attitude of some teachers worsen the situation such that mathematics continues to attract the interest of very few people and the percentage of females among them is very insignificant. Majority of people studying mathematics resulted to it because they could not get admitted to the course of their choice. Permutation and combination is one of the topics in Mathematics that pose problems to students. In this paper, we explain how permutation and combination could be taught using play-way approach among other methods that could be used. Keywords: Teaching, permutation, combination. Introduction We define effectiveness of teaching as the ability of the students to be able to successfully carry out activities on the treated subject matter. Note that what counts as effective depends on a variety of factors, including the particular learning goals of interest. To achieve this, a lot of things must be put into consideration. This includes: the use of relevant teaching aids, appropriate teaching methods, the use of Student centered approach, and a step by step (from known to unknown) approach in the delivery of prepared teaching procedure. It should be noted that no matter how effective a teaching method could be, if the technical know how of handling the method is lacking on the part of the teacher, the method may still proof not effective. So it is necessary that the teacher study how to handle a particular method he has chosen to employ. Moreover, it is believed by many that play- way method of teaching is only useful or applicable in the primary or kindergarten level of Education, Just as Fredrich Froebel advocated guided play as the best way for a child to learn. I observed that students performed better in the concept of permutation and combination when I adopted the play-way method. This confirmed the result of a study done at the University of Texas [1], that people remember: 10 percent of what they read; 20 percent of what they hear; 30 percent of what they see; 50 percent of what they see and hear; 70 percent of what they say; and 90 percent of what they do and say. It was also surprising to some group of secondary mathematics teachers at a workshop organized for them by the mathematics department Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife, Nigeria, when I demonstrated to them how some concepts in mathematics can be taught using play-way method. Play-way method involves act of seeing, hearing, saying and doing, which makes it easier to remember. So it could be a way of achieving effective teaching of certain concepts in mathematics. Permutation is an aspect of mathematics that may be confusing if not properly presented to the students. In this paper, we wish to demonstrate how play-way method could be used to teach the concept of permutation and combination in Secondary schools and even in tertiary institution. To teach a concept in mathematics and even other areas of learning, adequate preparation must be made. The preparations include: The concept to be taught, the objectives to be achieved, the category of students to be taught, the choice of instructional materials, as well as a step by step of presenting the concept in order to achieve the set objectives. Teaching Procedure Objectives At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to: (1) Define permutation, combination, and fundamental counting principle. (2) Work exercises on permutation. (3) Work exercises on combination (4) Differentiate between permutation and combination questions. Entry behaviour or previous knowledge: It is expected that the students have learnt the concept of factorial, so the teacher needs to test their entry knowledge by asking them some questions on the concept of factorial after which the teacher gives the definitions of the following: Permutation The number of ways that n elements can be arranged in order, is called a permutation of the elements. Note: In permutation, every different ordering counts as a distinct permutation. For instance, the ordering (    ) is distinct from (    ), etc. that is, order of arrangement matters in permutation.