EFFECT OF ACTIVITY-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS IN NUMAN EDUCATION ZONE, ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the effect of activity-based instructional strategy on senior secondary school student’ academic achievement in Mathematics in Numan Education Zone, Adamawa State. The study centred on two research questions and two hypotheses that were tested at a significance level of 0.05. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted. A sample size of 169 from the population of 8734 out of 84 senior secondary school students (SS2) was used, which entailed four intact classes from four different schools. The experimental group was taught Mathematics using activity-based while the control group was taught using conventional lecture method. In order to test the null hypotheses of the study, Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) was administered at the pre and post-tests stages. The instrument was validated by three experts, pilot tested with a reliability coefficient of 0.80 obtained using Guttmann split-half statistics. The data obtained from the MAT were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (t-test). The analysis revealed that there is a significant difference in the mean score of students’ taught mathematics by the use of activity-based instructional strategy in Numan Education Zone. The study also revealed that there is significant difference in the academic achievement of students taught mathematics by the use of activity-based instructional strategy with the highest mean scores (Mean = 41.90, pre-test (Mean = 19.19) and (t = 20.69, df = 84, p < 0.05) in Numan Education Zone. The study therefore concluded that activity-based instructional strategy was effective in improving students’ academic achievement in Mathematics and based on this, it was recommended that the strategy should be adopted more in Nigerian schools than conventional lecture method especially at all levels of secondary schools in order to yield higher academic achievement of students.