ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effect of Experiment and Improvisations based model on senior secondary two students’ achievement and interest in circle theorems. Experiment and improvisation based model is an instructional model that the teacher has to plan his/her lesson bearing in mind the learner (student) in mind in terms of provision of activities that would bring out the concept being taught while students perform the activities to “discover” what is required without the teacher (facilitator) telling them. It is built on the Constructivist theories whose major theme or theory is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based on their current/past knowledge in line with the model whose emphasis is on students’ active participation. To guide the study, six research questions were presented and six hypotheses formulated and tested at 0.05 probability level. Quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. The study was carried out in Plateau Central Directorate of Education of Plateau state. Sample size of 330 SSII students were used for the study. This sample was drawn using purposive sampling technique. Four intact classes were used and grouped into two each of experimental and control group. The experimental groups were taught using the experiment and improvisation based model and the control groups taught using the Conventional teaching strategy (CTS). The treatment lasted for four weeks. Two instruments were used for data collection in this study, namely; Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) and the Mathematics Interest Scale (MIS). These two researcher made instruments were drawn from the circle theorems content of SSII curriculum used for pretest before treatment and posttest after the treatment. The result for this was analyzed. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while the research hypotheses were analyzed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and tested at 0.05 level of significant. The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean achievement and interest of both males and female students in mathematics. Research showed that students who were taught circle theorems with experiment and improvisation based model achieved higher than students taught using the Conventional teaching strategy. Experiment and improvisation based model also arouse students’ interest in circle theorems. The result also showed that both males and females achieve higher results. Based on this, a number of recommendations were made. Among such, it was recommended that since experiment and improvisation based model enhances students’ achievement and interest, secondary mathematics teachers should be encouraged to use it in the classroom, attend workshops regularly and be kin resourceful in improvisation in their classrooms. However, the limitations, implication of the study and suggestions for further studies were also made.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Mathematics is an important subject in the secondary school, despite its importance; students’ achievement and interest is reportedly low. It is indeed worrisome if such is the situation in our secondary schools noting how hard it is to live a meaningful life in the present modern world without the good knowledge of mathematics. The knowledge, teaching and learning of this subject, mathematics is imperative in every society if the citizens are to cope with the fast changing development in science and technology. Furthermore; Mathematics is an intellectually stimulating subject that affects every facet of human activity such as politics, economy, science and technology (Abakpa and Iji, 2011). The importance of mathematics to man has accounted for its inclusion in school curriculum as a compulsory subject for every child of school age to acquire the appropriate mathematical skills that will enable him cope with life challenges. With regards to this, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Policy on Education (FGN, 2004) stated that mathematics should be taught as a core subject to all students at primary and secondary school level in order to give a sound basis for scientific and reflective thinking, and prepare them for the next level of education.