Effect of Cuisenaire Rods’ approach on students’ interest in decimal fractions in junior secondary school, Makurdi Metropolis.

M.S Kurumeh

doi:10.4314/gjedr.v9i1-2.62517

Abstract

This study explored the effectiveness of Cuisenaire Rods’ approach in arousing students’ interest in decimal fractions. Two research questions were posed and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A sample of 200 JS3 students from a randomly selected schools in Makurdi Metropolis of Benue State, served as subjects for the study. A Mathematics Interest Inventory on Decimal Fraction (MIIDF) developed by the researcher and validated by three experts with a reliability coefficient of 0.72 using K-R(21), was used as a research instrument for data collection. Mean, Standard deviation and two way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used for analyzing the data. The results revealed that Cuisenaire Rods’ approach was very effective in facilitating students’ interest in decimal fractions (F1, 199 =163.077, p0.05). There was significant interaction effect between method and gender (F1,199=20.848; p

Highlights

IntroductionAny nation that neglects its mathematics cannot develop socially, economically, politically, scientifically and technologically
This deplorable condition of students’ performance in mathematics examinations in this country is nothing to write home about. This situation is caused by several factors. Such factors according to Obodo (2004) and Odili (2006) include the abstractness of mathematics concepts, students’ lack of interest in the subject and the way these concepts are presented to the students
Ho2: There is no significant difference in the mean interest scores between male and female students taught decimal fractions using Cuisenaire Rods’ approach (CRA)

Summary

Introduction

Any nation that neglects its mathematics cannot develop socially, economically, politically, scientifically and technologically. Based on this Nigeria has made mathematics a compulsory subject in primary and secondary levels of education. Despite the importance placed on mathematics, students’ performance in mathematics has not been impressive over a past decade (Obodo, 2004; Azuka, 2006) This deplorable condition of students’ performance in mathematics examinations in this country is nothing to write home about. The Chief Examiners of WAEC have recommended the use of practical and concrete representations in teaching abstract concepts for better understanding and to arouse and facilitate students’ interest and understanding resulting in better performance in mathematics (WAEC, 2007). The researcher wants to use Cuisenaire Rods’ Approach (CRA), which uses concrete, physical, observable and touchable objects to teach abstract concepts in mathematics.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion