Effect of Constructivist Teaching Approach on Students' Achievement in Mathematics at Secondary School Level

Abstract

This paper outlines an experimental study on students learning in a constructivist environment and its subsequent effect on achievement in mathematics at the secondary level of learners. The study aims to know the effect of a constructivist teaching approach in mathematics achievement of grade 9th students belong to a secondary school of Warangal Urban district. The research is experimental in nature; pre-test post-test group design is selected for this purpose. 5E’s learning (Engage-Explore-Explain-Elaborate-Evaluate) strategy has been applied to the experimental group and transmission method of teaching followed by a control group where the total 64 (32 control group and 32 experimental group) students participated. Pre-test in mathematics achievement was conducted for both groups prior to the treatment. Experimental group students were taught through constructivist teaching approach whereas the control group students were taught through transmission approach and the post-test was conducted after the treatment. The mathematics achievement test (MAT) was used to evaluate the students’ achievement from both groups. On the basis of statistical measures, t-values and effect sizes were calculated to find the significant differences between the groups. The analysis of data showed that on the entire, experimental group performed better than the control group. Thus the final results of the study indicated that experimental group students’ performance improved after treatment whereas the control group did not show any improvement.