Effects of Drill-and-Practice Instructional Package on Junior Secondary School Students’ Performance in Mathematics in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Mathematics as a subject requires great attention because success in it at the secondary level determines how far a student can go in further studies. This is because those students who fail to attain a credit pass might not gain admission into tertiary institution. This poor performance is probably attributed to lack of frequent practice on the part of students. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of drill-and-practice instructional package on junior secondary students’ performance in Mathematics in Ondo State, Nigeria. The study used pretest posttest control group quasi-experimental design. The population comprised all Junior Secondary School two (JSS2) students in public co-educational schools in Ondo State. Two schools were purposively selected out of which two intact classes were randomly assigned experimental and control groups. Total sample used for the study was 68 students, consisting of 30 males and 38 females. The instruments used for data collection were Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT)(r=0.78) and Students’ Attitude towards Mathematics Questionnaire (SAMQ) (r=0.73). Data collected were analyzed using inferential statistics of Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Findings from the study revealed that students in the treatment group had higher academic achievement compared to students in the control group; however, no significant difference was found in the posttest scores of the ability levels exposed to treatment. The study concluded that, since students’ performance was enhanced when exposed to the drill-and-practice instructional package compared with the control group, the package could be advantageously used to improve students’ performance in Mathematics. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that more attention should be accorded to the use of the drill-and-practice instructional package in the Nigerian school system.