Evaluating the Effect of Activity-Based Method of Teaching Mathematics on Nigerian Secondary School Students' Achievement in Mathematics

Abstract

Mathematics is a compulsory subject in Nigerian secondary schools, and the subject plays an important role in the scientific and technological growth and development of the nation. A shortfall in the knowledge of the students in Mathematics means that the goal may not be realized, hence the need to improve teaching methods for solving the problem of poor performance in the subject. This study evaluated the effect of the activity-based teaching method on the students' achievement in secondary school Mathematics. The design of the study was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest research design using intact classes. A sample of 96 students from two senior secondary schools in Calabar metropolis, Cross Rivers State, Nigeria was used in the study. The instrument for data collection was a 20-item Essay MathematicsTest (MT) developed by the researcher to measure students' achievement in Mathematics. The reliability coefficient for the instrument using the Cronbach coefficient alpha was 0.86. Mean and the standard deviation was used to answer the research question while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to explore the effect of the teaching method at a 0.05 level of significance. Finding revealed that there was a significant difference in the Mathematics performance between the posttest mean scores of the students who were exposed to activity-based teaching methods (experimental) and those that were taught with lecture method (control) groups after controlling for the effect of the pre-test on Mathematics scores. The result indicated that students taught using the activity method performed better than those taught using the lecture method. This study implies that students will benefit greatly from teaching outcomes in schools if the activity method is used as a pedagogical approach in Mathematics instructional delivery. The paper recommends among others that secondary school Mathematics teachers should be trained and re-trained to update their knowledge in the use of activity-based teaching for making the teaching and learning of Mathematics more interesting and rewarding.