CONTEXTUAL LEARNING STRATEGY AND SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS IN GOKANA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study investigated contextual learning strategy and senior secondary school students’
achievement in mathematics in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State. Two research
questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The research design adopted for the study was
pretest posttest quasi experimental design. The population of the study consist of 2263 senior
secondary two (SS2) students 2019/2020 academic session in both public and private secondary
schools in Gokana L.G.A of Rivers State. A proportionate stratified random sampling technique was
used in selecting 200 SS2 students. Mathematics achievement test (MAT) consisting of 50 items
multiple choice questions was the instrument used with a reliability coefficient of 0.82 using
Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) formula. Mean and standard deviation was used in
answering the research questions while t-test and Anova were used in testing the hypotheses at
0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that students taught using contextual
learning strategy performed better than those taught using lecture method. Both private and
public school students performed well after exposure to contextual learning. Based on the
findings, it was recommended among others that mathematics teachers should always adopt
contextual learning strategy while teaching and that seminars and workshops should be organized
for mathematics teachers to keep them abreast with innovations in their subject area.