EFFECT OF GRAPHICAL-SYMBOL TEACHING APPROACH ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ MENTAL ABILITY IN NUMBER AND NUMERATION IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of graphical-symbol teaching approach on secondary school students’ mental ability in number and numeration in Anambra State. Four research questions and seven hypotheses guided the study. It study adopted quasi-experimental design, specifically; pre-test post-test nonrandomized control design was used. The population comprised 18,336 (7,966 males and 10,370 females) Senior Secondary two (SS2) students. A sample size of 280 SS2 students (119 males and 161 females) drawn using multi-stage sampling procedure from six out of 49 Co-educational secondary schools in Awka Education Zone was involved in the study two from department of science education and measurement and evaluation both in faculty of education Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka and one from the department of Mathematics Education Federal College of Education (Technical) Umunze. General Mental Ability Test (GMAT) were used for data collection. The instruments were validated by three expects. Kuder- Richardson (K-R 20) was used to determine the reliability coefficient of GMAT which was found to be .85 and .85 respectively. The experimental procedure was done using the stages in GSTA in treatment groups and stages in TTA. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance was used to test the null hypotheses at .05 alpha levels. The findings of the study revealed among others that, students taught number and numeration using graphical-symbol teaching approach (GSTA) had higher mean mental ability scores and higher mean achievement scores than those taught using traditional teaching approach (TTA). Hence, there are significant differences between the mean mental ability scores of students taught number and numeration in favour of GSTA group. Also, GSTA enhanced male and female students’ mental ability in number and numeration more than the TTA. Based on the findings it was recommended that secondary school teachers of Mathematics should adopt the use of GSTA when teaching number and numeration (branch of Mathematics). Also, Ministry of Education in partnership with STAN and MAN should train in-service Mathematics teachers on the use of GSTA in form of Mathematics instruction.