EFFECTS OF MULTIMEDIA AND PROBLEM BASED LEARNING STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, RETENTION AND INTEREST IN MATHEMATICS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Mathematics teaching and learning process has gradually become the main focus of global discourse. Societal and educational value placed on Mathematics as a subject has made it become imperative that when academics ought to be proven as outstanding, it starts with one’s ability to understand and carry out simple computational problems (Zechariah, 2012).

Since Nigeria obtained her independence in 1960, Mathematics education has continued to receive special emphasis and attention. This is perhaps, in recognition of the contribution of Mathematics to the overall development of a nation which cannot be underestimated in view of its role for social and economic development(Agwagah, 2013). Thus, the quest for national development along with scientific, technological growth and self-reliance are matched with corresponding progress in Mathematics (Kauru, 2016). Adeleke (2007) indicated that in the twenty first century, developing nations have come to realize that the increasing role of science and technology with strong Mathematical content is a sustainable instrument for National Development. Some of these roles include its ability to enhance the re-thinking capabilities of individuals by making one to be creative, reasonable and rational as well as imaginative. Cangiano (2008) posited that Mathematics has been recognized as a tool for solving everyday problem faced by individuals and the society. Even the most ordinary citizen has to calculate his wages and buy things from the market. For a housewife, farmer, trader, laborer, shopkeeper or accountant, some knowledge of Mathematics is absolutely necessary to carry out one’s job. In the same vein, Agwagah (2013) indicated that Mathematics is an indispensable tool in virtually all human endeavors and there is hardly any field where Mathematics is not useful. That is why Mathematics has been placed as a compulsory subject both at primary and secondary school levels in Nigeria. This aligned with Ukeje in Onah (2014) who stressed that without Mathematics, there is no science; without science, there is no modern technology and without modern technology, there is no modern society. This implies that there could be no real development technologically without a corresponding development in Mathematics. One may now ask; what is Mathematics and what are the objectives of Mathematics in Secondary Schools?

Mathematics as a subject is the study of quantity, structure, space, relation, change and various topics of pattern, form and entity. Borel (2014) opined that Mathematics is both the Queen of Science and a servant of science subjects whereas Life (2014) viewed Mathematics as King of Arts and Queen of Science. Furthermore,Iji (2014) posited that Mathematics is the logical language for expressing ideas, shapes, quantities, sizes, order, change and dynamism in the education system and explaining the complexities of modern society in the business economic, academic engineering and industry setting for lifelong learning. Mathematics, according to Lutfuzzaman (2014), is the key to all sciences. This is because today's world is heavily reliant on science, and the later, is reliant on Mathematics. Although many regard Mathematics as a theoretical topic, the fact remains that mathematical ideas were formed to meet the needs of day-to-day practical life.

Mathematics is an interdisciplinary language which cuts across all areas of human learning and endeavors. An effective learning of Mathematics is therefore, imperative, for a society to cope and compete effectively in the presence of fast changing scientific and technological development. This explains the fact that knowledge gotten from Mathematics is applicable to all areas of human activities and consequently, determines the level and rate of national development (Momoh, 2010). According to Odili (2006), the objectives of teaching Mathematics include; to generate interest in Mathematics and provide a solid foundation for everyday living; to develop computational skills; to foster the desire and ability to be accurate to a degree relevant to the problem at hand; to develop and practice logical and abstract thinking; to develop ability to recognize problems and to solve them with related Mathematical knowledge; to provide necessary Mathematical background for further education and to stimulate and encourage creativity. FRN (2014) stated that the objectives of Mathematics in secondary schools at both junior and senior levels include: developing originality and curiosity in the learners; acquiring relevant manipulative skills; emphasizing the wide applicability of Mathematics in various field and leading the learners to discover and appreciate the beauty and elegance of Mathematics. Onah (2015) opined that the aesthetic values of Mathematics are found in Statistics. The beauty and elegance of Mathematics are found in statistics. Lassa (2012) opined that every major branch of Mathematics involves statistics in a very fundamental way. Lassa is of the view that the language of statistics is precise and unambiguous, which arises out of the need to generalize.

Statistics is defined as “a collection of quantitative data” or a branch of Mathematics dealing with the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation and presentation of numerical data (Arsham, 2015). It is the science that deals with the collection, classification, analysis and interpretation of numerical facts by using Mathematical theories of probability, imposing order and regularity on aggregates of more or less desperate elements, numerical facts or data. Arsham, 2015) further opined that is the reason why it forms part of the school curriculum from pre-primary, primary and secondary schools whose foundation must begin to be built in the very early stages in schools. The content of statistics in Senior Secondary One curriculum by the Federal Ministry of Education includes:(i)Collection, tabulation and presentation of data(ii) Frequency Tables (iii)Graphical representation of data  (iv) Pie chart  and  (v) Frequency polygon.

According to American Statistical Association (ASA, 2018), statistics education has both cognitive and non-cognitive goals for students. The cognitive goal of statistics reflects students designing investigation, formulation of research questions, collection of data using observations, description and comparisons of dataset, proposition and justifications, conclusions and prediction based on the data collected. The non-cognitive goal reflects students’ affective construct such as attitudes, beliefs, emotions, disposition and motivation. However, in a typical classroom, two main statistical methods (inferential and descriptive) are used for data analysis and descriptive statistics which is most often concerned with two sets of properties of a distribution (sample and population) called central tendency (seeks to characterize the distributions of central or typical value), this covers key areas like the mean, median and mode. Dispersion or variability (characterized by the extent to which members of the distribution depart from its center and each other) covers area of range, mean deviation and quartiles. If effective teaching strategy is not used in teaching of statistics, students find it difficult to calculate arithmetic mean, solve problems on grouped frequency distribution, the median, geometrical determination of the median, median from a histogram, median from a cumulative frequency curve, quartile and percentiles, the mean, median and mode from interpolation formulae and constructing and solving problems on pie chart. To be precise, Dike (2013) indicated that about 29% of the questions given to students every year in West African Examination Council (WAEC) usually come from area of set and statistics, and that is one of the reasons why the current failure trend in the subject as a whole can be attributed to the student’s inability to understand the concepts in statistics.

In 2011 and 2012 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), there was a marked decline in candidate’s performance. Egunidu (2013) stated that in 2011 only 139,872 candidates representing 36.07% passed Mathematics while in the year 2012, only 150,615 candidates representing 49.00% obtained five (5) credits in their subjects, including English and Mathematics. For May/June 2011 and 2012 WASSCE, WASSCE Chief Examiner Reports (2013) stated as follows: only 36.00% candidates who MAT for the May/June, 2011 WASSCE obtained a credit and above in Mathematics. In 2012 May/June, the percentage of students with credit and above in Mathematics was 48.88% (Chief Examiner’s Report WAEC, 2012). In 2013, the result declined to 36.57% while in 2014, there was a mass failure as only 31.28% candidates obtained five credits in Mathematics; in 2015, it increased to 38.18%; in 2016, 38.68%; in 2017, 30.12% and in 2018 only 31.01% of candidates obtained credits in Mathematics (Chief Examiner’s Report WAEC, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018) (see Table 1.1) Page 143. These percentages are still low as educators in the field are worried and improvement is highly needed. It is obvious why every Mathematics educator is worried about the poor and zigzag performance of students in Mathematics. Lassa (2012) reiterated that if nothing positive is done to improve students’ performance in Mathematics, the developmental aspiration in science and technology in Nigeria will be a hallucination. This commensurates with Odili (2016) opinion that Mathematics is the queen of the science and no nation can hope to achieve any measure of scientific or technological advancement and development without proper foundation in school Mathematics. Unfortunately, Mathematics is one of the most poorly taught, widely hated and abysmally understood subjects in Nigerian school system (Arsham, 2015). Most secondary school students particularly girls do run away from Mathematics.

Despite the importance of Mathematics, many problems seem to beset its teaching in Nigeria. This has resulted to the consistent poor performance in Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in the subject (Abakpa and Uguda, 2014). Prominent among these challenges, according to Mathematics Association of Nigeria, Onah (2015) are; lack of qualified professional Mathematics teacher; non-use of appropriate instructional strategy; large class size; limited programmes for updating teachers’ knowledge; overcrowded classrooms; students’ negative attitude towards Mathematics; undue emphasis on the coverage of Mathematics syllabuses at the expense of meaningful learning of Mathematics concepts; inadequate facilities and Mathematics laboratories in our schools to mention but a few. This catalogue of challenges do not create conducive environment for Mathematics education to thrive in this country. In order for science and technology to take its firm root in our society, the poor state of Mathematics education must be redressed. This could be achieved by demystifying the subject in the Nigerian classroom and incorporating the enhanced strategies for this laudable goal. Although the above are some of the factors attributed to poor achievement in Mathematics, a good number of researchers equally laid blame on the use of inappropriate teaching strategy which might lead to lack of retention of Mathematics concepts. Such researchers include Digari, Kauru and Bello (2016), Ezeh (2011) and Ifeanacho (2012). These researchers believe that ineffective teaching strategies adopted in the teaching of Mathematics, often lead to students’ poor achievement, interest and retention. They have experimented various methods for the improvement of teaching and learning Mathematics.

One current method recently developed by researchers to tackle the problems of poor performance in teaching and learning is Electronic-Learning/Multimedia projection package strategy (Lassa, 2012; Kauru, 2016; Onah, 2015). It is one of the latest methods that have been found to be very effective in not only learning, but also adopted for teaching in order to generate students’ interest in any subject (Onah, 2015). Unfortunately, software packages for teaching Mathematics are not always available especially in south-south geopolitical zone of Nigerian Secondary Schools [AkwaIbom State Ministry of Education (AKSME)]. Ibezim and Asogwa(2013) stated that there is an urgent need to utilize computer in teaching for effective achievement of the three domains of educational objectives in different subject areas. It is on this note, Onah, Ugwuanyi, Okeke, Nworgu, Agwagah,Ugwuany, Obe, Nwoye and Okeke (2020) suggested that since students are very much interested and excited in the use of computer system, it is necessary for Mathematics teachers to use the opportunity and apply machine as teaching aid. Explaining further, they further asserted that computer is highly adaptable in teaching vital parts of Mathematics, most especially the elementary parts.

It enables the students to grasp the major background concepts behind advanced mathematical calculations. Thus, the computer could be useful in helping students grasp the major concepts in Statistics and Set such as mean, median, mode, range and quartile, union of set, intersection, null and complement of set. The use of computer in teaching, multimedia projection package strategy and e-learning can be done interchangeably. What is e-learning? It is a learning conducted via electronic media, typically on the internet. It is utilizing electronic technologies to access educational curriculum outside of a traditional classroom. It is not a course delivered via a DVD or CD-ROM, video tape or over a television channel. It is interactive in that one can also communicate with his/her teacher and other students in one’s class. Sometimes, it is delivered live where you can “electronically” raise your hand and interact in real time and sometimes it is a lecture that has been pre-prepared. There is always a teacher interacting/communicating with students and grading students’ participation, give students assignments and tests (www.elearningnc.gov/about-elearning). This is in line with Amadi (2011) who stated that e-learning is a process of teaching and learning using computer as a medium. Onah (2015) opined that e-learning is the general term relating to all learning that is delivered with the assistance of computer via Compact Disc (CD), the internet or shared files on a network. Therefore, whichever definition is given by any educationist, it is clear to note that each points to computer as the medium of operation. As it is generally observed that eyes are always captivated by movies, the e-learning provides this desired opportunity so that the learners’ interest is kept high till fruitful results are achieved. For this, the learners using e-learning approach continue to be attentive till the end of the lesson. Thus, learning is considered more practical with e-learning than other methods (Onah, 2015). Whenever text, audio, still images, animation and interactivity are combined together, the result is multimedia. Slides, for example, are multimedia, as they combine text and images, and sometimes video and other types.

According to Onah (2015), multimedia is a textbook on a screen with some accompanying animation, a library of supplementary visual images, and a collection of animations to demonstrate selected topics. Multimedia can be referred to as any computer-mediated software or interactive application that integrates text, colour, graphical images, animation, audio sound, and full motion video in a single application. Multimedia learning systems consist of animation and narration which offer a potential avenue for improving students’ understanding (Moreno and Mayer,2010). Multimedia application is the creation of exciting and innovative multimedia systems used for the purpose of communication of information that are customized to the user in a non-linear interactive format. Multimedia application services include: audio, video processing, education and training, multimedia analysis and internet, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and 3-D imaging, wireless mobile computing, animation and graphics and visual communication. Multimedia is consistent with major trends in both pedagogy and content. For this reason, it is seen to be promising for the teaching of Statistics. More often than not, rather than receiving information passively, students learn mathematical science best by their own activity. It is on the basis of this that a movement to reform instruction in mathematical science is being instituted. Hitherto, the content of beginning instruction was somewhat scanty and unelaborate. However, presently, more emphasis is being placed on working with data, interpreting graphics, and practical use of computing and conceptual rather than mathematical explanations.

As noted by Onah (2015), multimedia offers a highly interactive and individualized environment in which learner is constantly invited to manipulate animations, asked to respond to questions and encouraged to work independently to exercise newly learned concepts. The interactivity and continuous availability of automated calculations and graphics are ideal for data analysis. Animation and simulation can provide visualizations of concepts from probability and inference. Video, text and maps vividly present real problem settings. The learner can control the pace of instruction, request review or enrich and emphasize the media that best suit his/her individual learning style (The American Statistician, 2018). This is in line with Barineme (2014) who indicated that teachers and students can use computer tools such as text or graphic editors, databases, spreadsheets or presentation packages to help in processing information; that these can assist the teachers to improve and enrich the presentations with beautiful graphics and tables which can be stored, easily updated and readily accessible for presentation; that the presentation can be online or offline. In developing any material for presentation, example Multimedia learning strategy on Statistics, well prepared Microsoft PowerPoint Strategy is essential so that one can present already prepared contents on sets and statistics step by step in slide by slide. Transition effect, animation and sound effect on one’s slide was also added. Needed slide can be zoomed or maximized to enable one view clearly. Computer Aided Learning (CAL) and Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) are some of the e-learning subsets developed in PowerPoint environment Onah (2015).

However, CAI can be developed in Word environment because of its bulky nature. In the view of Onah (2015), a well prepared and presented CAI or CAL package helps in the facilitation of education process. Interests of students are generated as they are actively involved in what they view on the screen and also carry out any instruction from the content developer. The expected end result is learning Mathematics with understanding. Differentiating between CAI and CAL, Oranu (2006) stated that Computer Aided Technology such as Computer Aided Learning (CAL) or Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) is included in e-learning. Oranu (2006) explained that CAI is too bulky as learners are expected to study the materials bit by bit and cover less content while CAL covers more contents as the teachers may present the content of CAL package when necessary or use bullet to emphasize points slide by slide. Although a teacher develops both CAI and CAL, CAI is for learners’ personal use either inside the classroom or outside the classroom while CAL is for teacher’s presentation to entire Class (Oranu 2006, Adeniran 2008).

According to Oranu (2006), CAL is preferred to CAI when one wants to cover more contents and the computer facilities are not enough to reach the students except the teacher. Similar study to this work were carried out by Ajewole, Ogunlusi and Bajulaiye (2006) who worked on e-learning and Science, Technology and Mathematics Education. The researchers found out that in Computer Aided Learning (CAL), computers are used as learning resources; that the learners interact with the medium of instruction through the available input terminal; that the teaching materials are stored inside the computer system and the teacher controls the overall environment in which the students learn; and such system will enable the teacher to select, specify, design and even write learning materials which she asserts to be of value to her students. According to Gimba (2014), the researcher worked on effect of Computer Assisted Instructional Package on Achievement, Retention and Interest in Set Theory among Senior Secondary School Students in Niger State. On the part of e-learning package in use, Gimba prepared the CAI in word environment while the current research has its CAL prepared in PowerPoint environment with related concepts found in each slide for better understanding by students. The use of CAL in PowerPoint environment enabled the researcher to include animation and transition effects on the contents of the slides. The animations and transition effects in CAL in return are expected to increase the students’ interest and promote achievement, hence this study is conceived. CAI requires every learner to own a computer system (Adeniran, 2002). In AkwaIbom State presently, it is not possible for every student to own and use a system for CAI. It is therefore better for teachers to use a well prepared CAL package in form of Multimedia Projection Packages on Set (MUMPPAS) to reach many students at a time for better understanding and hence the need for this study.

The need for production of an electronic learning package as multimedia learning strategy (MLS) in form of CAL in Statistics may be apt for it would most likely promote effective teaching of Statistics contents already listed slide by slide, leading to better teaching/learning. In other words, the CAL package, MLS-CAL, would likely promote teaching and learning since the contents were arranged sequentially from one slide to another. Learners viewing the slides would likely achieve highly. This is in consonance with a Chinese proverb which according to Azuka (2012) was stated thus: What I hear, I forget; what I see, I remember; what I do, I understand. It has been stated that the conventional/traditional method of teaching does not promote learning, this is because, the teacher is the only custodian of what is being learnt using chalk and board whereas students copying the note while e-learning promotes all the senses of hearing, seeing and doing. E-learning, therefore, has a practical approach to teaching and learning and has a lot of advantages. MLS-CAL package is an example of computer software and John (2014) viewed Computer-Assisted Learning (CAL) as any use of computer to aid or support the education or training of people. The author added that instructional strategies are basically used in such ways that they either provide a straight forward presentation of data or they fill a tutorial role in which the students are tested on comprehension. This MLS-CAL in form of CAL package employs the first option of providing a straight forward presentation of data. Presentable packages are better prepared in PowerPoint environment so that one can give animation and transition effect in one’s material in a slide respectively. Would MLS-CAL promote active learning on Statistics? The researcher is of the view that a well-prepared e-learning subset such as CAL package like MLS-CAL is likely to support active learning which in turn can encourage high achievement, retention and interest of students in statistics, hence the need for the study.

However, Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a student-centered approach in which students learn about a subject by working in groups to solve an open-ended problem. This problem is what drives the motivation and the learning outcomes that are associated with PBL. A well-designed PBL project provides students with the opportunity to develop skills related to working in teams, managing projects and holding leadership roles, oral and written communication, self-awareness and evaluation of group processes, working independently, critical thinking and analysis, explaining concepts, self-directed learning, applying course content to real-world examples, researching, information literacy and problem solving across disciplines.

Roh (2003) describes PBL as a learning environment where problems drive the learning, that is, learning begins with a problem to be solved and the problem is posed in such a way that students need to gain new knowledge before they can solve the problem. Rather than seeking a single correct answer, students interpret the problem, gather needed information, identify possible solution, and evaluate options and present conclusions. PBL is a classroom strategy that organizes Mathematics instructions around problem solving activities and affords students more opportunities to think critically, present their own creative ideas and communicate with peers mathematically.

The conventional strategy of instruction does not enable students to develop mathematical thinking skills well instead of gaining a deep understanding of mathematical knowledge and the nature of Mathematics; students in conventional classroom environment tend to learn inappropriate and counterproductive conceptualizations of the nature of Mathematics. Students are allowed only to follow guided instructions and to obtain right answers but not allowed to seek mathematical understanding. Consequently, instruction becomes focused on only getting correct scores on tests of performance. Therefore, the researcher is of the probable opinion that if MLS-CAL and PBL strategies are used in teaching Mathematics it will increase student’s achievement, interest and retention.

Achievement means an accomplishment that somebody has carried out successfully, especially using one’s own effort and skill (Onah and Agwagah, 2014).Researchers’ growing interest in studying Mathematics achievement is driven by the importance of Mathematics in both formal education and people’s daily live (Jansen, Lowerse, Streatemeier, Vander-Ven, Klinkenberg and Vander-Maas, 2013; Namkung, Peng and Lin, 2019). Jain and Dowson (2009) underlined the fact that mathematical comprehension is crucial for personal and professional success. Saritas and Akdemir (2009) opined that the current debate among scholars is what students should learn to be successful in Mathematics. The discussion emphasizes new instructional design techniques to produce individuals who can understand and apply fundamental Mathematics concepts. It is important for educators to adopt instructional design techniques to attain higher achievement rate and interest in Mathematics. Rasmussen and Marrongelle confirmed in Saritas and Akdemir (2009).

Interest as a variable has assumed a plethora of meaning as there are authors to define it. Interest refers to a passion an individual may have towards a particular objects. Sylvia in Tembe, Anyagh and Abakpa (2020) characterized interest as an emotion and using the cognitive appraisal theory explained the occurrence of interest in specific situations. The authors also referred to interests as traits of people that are developed and sustained for a long period of time almost reaching the status of personality characteristics. Hornby (2006) defined interest as the state of wanting to know, learn about something or somebody. Ochiagha in Godfrey (2013) listed that interest is essential for learning and training because it has motivating factor that arouse something deeper and is based on fundamental emotions and desire, this implies that the student performance can be influenced by the interest he has on the study of Mathematics. Ngwoke in Godfrey (2013) highlighted that interest leads to strong ego-involvement in tasks and it less susceptible to distractions by extraneous inference. It aisles memory and leads to strong intent to learn and achieve competence. This in the long run would manifest in the achievement of the learner in both internal and external examination.      

Gender is a set of characteristics distinguishing between male and female, particularly in the cases of men and women. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity. Gender differences in Mathematics achievement and ability has remained a source of concern as scientists seek to address the under-representation of women at the highest levels of Mathematics, physical sciences and engineering (Asante, 2010). Both male and female students need effective knowledge about Statistics in order to develop and progress. This situation constitutes a worry to the entire nation since women are nation builders and need to be carried along with their male counterparts. Methods that promote high achievement of boys and girls need to be encouraged. There may be difference in performance in favour of boys or girls but let both perform highly. Some research findings reported a gender balanced result (Adimora; Akaneme and Onah 2014). Onah and Agwagah (2014) also found a gender balanced result when INDICAB game was used in teaching Indices. Only few research works were seen to favour females (Okoye, 2012). Sanderson, Gogo, and Ojimba (2022) opined that female students should be encouraged by their teachers to develop interest in learning Mathematics with their male counterpart. Mathematics software packages can equally be watched for better understanding. Since e-learning particularly, multimedia projection packages are solving problems of poor achievement by increasing students’ interest. Ajewole, Ogunlusi and Bajulaiye (2006) suggested the need for producing CAL packages for teaching Mathematics effectively with other science subjects and Onah (2015) complained that Mathematics teachers lack CAL packages for teaching concepts in Mathematics. MLS-CAL – which is a multimedia Learning strategy, and an example of an e-learning package would form additional stock to existing software packages and hence the need for this software production on Statistics and its use as MLS-CAL.

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The study of Mathematics has contributed immensely to various aspects of life such as banking industry, engineering, drugs, better health care and proper family life. Good performance in aviation industry, medicine, architecture, pharmacy and others make the society appreciate the importance of Mathematics education.  In the secondary school Mathematics curriculum, there are some concepts that are deemed difficult by teachers to teach and students to learn. One of such concepts is statistics. The main aim of Mathematics teaching is to promote the understanding of the concept being taught with a view to applying the knowledge of such understanding to real life situations.

Inspite of all advantages derived and the recognition given to Mathematics as one of the core science subjects and as a pivot to technological and economic development, students’ performance in Mathematics has continued to record a persistent and depressing downward trend as revealed in WAEC chief examiners reports 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. The most prominent factor responsible for student’s poor performance in Mathematics has been identified to be the inability of the students to recall what had been learnt due to poor teaching method employed by teachers. The use of appropriate teaching strategies would enhance effective retention of facts for subsequent recall and utilization. Therefore, in an era of significant global scientific and technological change secondary school students in Nigeria need to be more adequately prepared into the competitive working environment of the 21^st century. Students, therefore, need to be educated using varieties of pedagogies which permit the development of other desirable skills and attribute. Some methods used in teaching Mathematics do not seem to help in improving students’ academic achievement, retention and interest. It is therefore inevitable to bring out other instructional strategies that could enhance effective teaching and learning of Mathematics. The problem this study seeks to solve is to investigate the effectiveness of MLS (CAL) and PBL teaching strategies in enhancing students’ achievement, retention and interest in the concept of statistics? Which of the learning strategies MLS and PBL would prove more effective in facilitating students’ achievement, retention and interest in the concept of statistics? The study attempts to find answers to these questions.

1.3       PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of CAL and PBL strategies on Students’ Academic Achievement, Retention and Interest in Senior Secondary One (SS1) Mathematics Students. Specifically the study seeks to: 

1.         Determine the effects of CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies on Students’ Academic Achievement in Mathematics.

2.         Determine the effects of CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies on Students’ Retention in Mathematics.

3.         Ascertain the Effects of CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies on Students’ Interest in Mathematics.

4.         Assess the Influence of Gender on Students’ Achievement in Mathematics when taught with CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies.

5.         Assess the Influence of Gender on Student’s Retention in Mathematics when taught with CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies.

6.         Assess the Influence of Gender on Students’ Interest in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies.

7.         Examine the combined Effects of Teaching Strategies, Gender and Retention on Students’ Academic Achievement in Mathematics.

8.         Investigate the combined Effects of Teaching Strategies, Gender and Students Interest on Students’ Academic Achievement in Mathematics.

1.4       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions are formulated to achieve the stated objectives:

1.              What are the Mean Achievement Scores of Students in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies? 

2.              What are the Mean Retention Scores of Students in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies?

3.              What are the Mean Interest Scores of Students in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies?

4.              What are the Mean Achievement Scores of Male and Female Students in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies?

5.              What are the Mean Retention Scores of Male and Female Students in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies?

6.              What are the Mean Interest Scores of Male and Female Students in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and Conventional Teaching Strategies?

7.              What is the Combined Effect of Teaching Strategies (CAL, PBL and Conventional) on Gender and Retention of Students’ Achievement in Mathematics?

8.              What is the Combined Effect of Teaching Strategies (CAL, PBL and Conventional) on Gender and Interest on Students’ Achievement in Mathematics?

1.5       HYPOTHESES

The following null hypotheses (H₀) were tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study.

Ho₁:    There is no significant difference among the academic achievement of students in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and conventional teaching strategies.

Ho₂:    There is no significant difference among students in the retention of Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and conventional teaching strategies.

Ho₃:       There is no significant difference among students’ interest in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and conventional teaching strategies.

Ho₄:    There is no significant difference between the achievement of male and female students in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and conventional teaching strategies.

Ho₅:    There is no significant difference between the achievement of male and female students in the retention of Mathematics using CAL, PBL and conventional teaching strategies.

Ho₆:    There is no significant difference between male and female students’ interest in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and conventional teaching strategies.

Ho₇:    There is no significant interaction effect of teaching strategies, gender and retention on students’ achievement in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and conventional teaching strategies.

Ho₈:    There is no significant interaction effect of teaching strategies, gender and interest on students’ achievement in Mathematics when taught using CAL, PBL and conventional teaching strategies.

1.6       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant in that the findings will be of benefit to; the students, teachers, parents, institutions, curriculum planners and educational bodies as discussed below: the teaching strategies will provide students with opportunities to think critically, present their own creative ideas, and communicate mathematically with colleagues.

The teaching strategies will also help teachers to understand students better, as they tend to observe students more during group works. Teachers identify loopholes while assessing students individually and thereby enable him/her to carry everyone along.Multimedia in the classroom provides teachers with more tools to support student’s resources like textbooks and worksheet, it equips teachers with various tools to help students develop a better understanding of the materials. Teachers who become expert at using multimedia in the classroom can advance their career because more institutions seek educators who have experience in using technology in the classroom.

The findings of this study may benefit parents withchildren that are good in technological industry of the country. It may benefit curriculum planners by including some computer oriented practical courses into the senior secondary one curriculum as a way of enhancing innovative and technological strategies into the school system for better Nigeria.

It may benefit institutions like universities, polytechnics and collages of education in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning resulting from closer link between teaching and research on the use of instructional materials such as Computer Aided Learning (CAL) package as teaching strategies that can help to demystify abstractness of some Mathematics topics in the higher institutions. The findings of this study may also benefit examination bodies like WAEC, NECO and NABTED in setting questions and making concrete illustrations in their syllabus on some abstract Mathematics concepts on the use of teaching strategies.

Finally, it may provide empirical evidence for further research work to be carried out in other subject areas as the way of enhancing teaching strategies for recommendation by curriculum developers. In conclusion the Government may see the need to organize workshops for Mathematics teachers on preparation and presentation of e-learning packages and make e-leaning materials available in schools in Nigeria.

1.7       SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Senior Secondary One Students (SS1) were involved in this study because the concept of statistics was found in SS1 curriculum by the Federal Ministry of Education (FME, 2014). The area of statistics addressed are data presentation which include; collection, tabulation and presentation of data; frequency distribution; line graph, bar graph, and histograms; pie chart; frequency polygon. Multimedia Learning strategy on Statistics (MLS) was used in teaching Statistics topics addressed in the research as Computer Aided Learning (CAL) as the presentation of the package was done in Power Point environment by the teacher and the students centered inquiry based approach called Problem Based Learning. The study was carried out in AkwaIbom State of Nigeria.

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