Abstract
The study investigated the effects of mathematical game and instructional analogy on students’ achievement in junior secondary school mathematics. A total of 246 Junior Secondary Two (JS2) Mathematics students were involved in the study. A 3×2 factorial design was adopted in the research. From the findings, it was observed that: a. both game and analogy enhance achievement in mathematics, b. analogy was found to be more effective in facilitating students’ achievement in mathematics than game, c. a nonsignificant difference existed between the achievement of male and female mathematics students taught with either game or analogy, and d. there was no significant interaction between the use/non-use of advance organizers and gender on mathematics students’ achievement. It was recommended that teachers should be encouraged to adopt instructional analogy more than game in teaching number and numeration and algebraicprocesses in mathematics.Keywords: mathematical games, instructional analogy, mathematicsachievement, advance organizers, gender differences in mathematics
Highlights
The compulsory nature of mathematics carries with it the assumption that the knowledge of the subject is essential for all members of the society
There is no significant difference in the mathematics achievement of students taught with games and analogies and those taught with modified lecture method
Differences in the mathematics achievement of students taught with games and analogies and those taught with modified lecture method To test the hypothesis that “there is no significant difference in the achievement of mathematics students taught with games, analogies and those not taught with advance organizer but modified lecture method”, pre-test scores were subjected to analyses of Covariance (ANCOVA) using pre-test scores as covariates
Summary
The compulsory nature of mathematics carries with it the assumption that the knowledge of the subject is essential for all members of the society. Stressing on the importance of mathematics, Ukeje (1986) described the as the mirror of civilization in all the centuries of painstaking calculation and the most basic discipline for any person who would be truly educated in any science and in many other endeavours. Despite the importance placed on mathematics, it is very disappointing to note that students’ performance in the subject at both internal and external examinations has remained consistently poor. Statistics show that mass failure in mathematics examination is real and the trend of students’ performance has been on the decline (Betiku, 2002; Maduabum & Odili 2006; WAEC, 2008; NECO, 2009). Many variables had been identified by Betiku (2002) as responsible for the poor performance of students in mathematics. Such variables include governments, curriculum, examination bodies, teachers, students, home, and textbook.
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