Effect of Constructivist Instructional Strategy on Students Achievement in Secondary School Mathematics Curriculum in Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined effect of constructivist strategy on students Achievement in Senior Secondary Mathematics in Rivers State. The research was guided by three research questions and corresponding hypotheses. The population is all the thirty four thousand, one hundred and sixty eight (34,168) of all Senior secondary II (SS11) students in Rivers State during the 2018/2019 Academic year. A sample size of 280 students in four intact classes were selected through purposive sampling technique. Two of each of the classes were used as experimental and control groups. Non randomized pre-test, post test control group design was used for the study. Instrument used for the study was Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) made up of 25 items drawn from simple statistics and Lesson Packages. The instrument was validated by experts and reliability coefficient of the instrument was obtained through test-retest method. The scores obtained were subjected to Pearson product moment correlation coefficient analysis and the result yielded 0.82. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), Mean and Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) were used in analyzing the data. Findings reveals that constructivist strategy was more effective in facilitating students achievement in Mathematics than expository method. The result did not show a significant difference in students’ achievement in Mathematics in terms of gender and school type. The study therefore recommended among others the use of constructivist strategy in the teaching and learning of Mathematics in schools.