Effect of Two Meta-cognitive Strategies n Students’ Achievement and Retention in Geometry.
ABSTRACT
The study investigated the effect of two meta-cognitive strategies on students’ achievement and retention in geometry. Influence of gender as well as the interaction effects of the teaching strategies and gender was also investigated in the study. Six research questions were posed and six null hypotheses were formulated to guide the conduct of the study. The study employed factorial research design. The population of this study consists of 3,606 senior secondary one (SS1) mathematics students in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State.
This population is made up of 1493 males and 2113 female students. The sample size of 256 SS 1 mathematics students was used for the study. The sample was obtained using multistage sampling technique. Geometry Achievement Test (GAT) developed by the researcher was used to collect the pertinent data for the study. GAT contained 40 test items with options ranged from A-D from which the students are expected to select the option that best answered the question.
The instrument was validated by three experts in the Department of Science Education (Measurement and Evaluation and Mathematics Education Units) all in Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. To ensure the content validity of GAT, table of specification was used in the construction of the test items. To determine the reliability of the instrument, the researcher administered 25 copies of the instrument to SS 1 Mathematics students of Community Secondary School Obollo-Afor in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State who are not part of the study.
INTRODUCTION
Mathematics is a science of numbers, quantity and space. It is an abstract concept and an applied concept to other disciplines. It is a compulsory subject at primary and secondary levels of education in Nigeria. Mathematics is used as a basic entry requirement into courses like medicine engineering among others. This view was supported by Usman (2002) who stated that in order to secure admission into higher level of education, a credit pass in mathematics is a prerequisite for most programmes.
Valt and Maree (2007) opined that mathematics can be described as an important subject in secondary education, and as an adequate learning facility that is very important in any country. Mathematics is an indispensable tool for development of science and technology. This implies that no nation can develop scientifically and technologically without proper foundations in school mathematics (Okafor, 2005). Therefore, mathematics serves as a means of sharpening man’s reasoning ability and developing man’s personality.
Hence, mathematics is indispensable in nation building. However, there are some aspects of mathematics that have posed lots of problems to students’ academic achievements. These are: negative indices, application of rule of BODMAS in solving problems, trigonometric relations/values of angles, longitude and latitude, scale drawings and geometry (WAEC Chief Examiners Report, 2013). Reports from examination bodies such as WAEC, indicated students’ poor achievement in mathematics as contained in the Chief Examiners’ Reports of 2010-2014.
For example, in 2012, 2013 and 2014 May/June WAEC results, 38.3%, 36.57% and 31.28% of the students respectively had credits in mathematics. However, it was noted that students’ weakness manifested mostly in geometry in almost all the 1 13 years under review. The reports show that students are very weak in geometry and also exhibited poor knowledge of circle theorems and geometrical construction. In addition, many candidates were unable to draw the tangent at a given point to determine the gradient at that point (West African Examination Council 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014).
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