EFFECT OF MATHEMATICS LABORATORY INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH ON THE PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS IN PLANE GEOMETRY

Abstract

This study determined the effect of the mathematics laboratory instructional approach on the performance of junior secondary students in plane geometry in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. The study employed the pretest and posttest non-equivalent, non-randomized intact class quasi-experimental research design. A simple random sampling technique was used to choose two (2) schools out of fourteen (14) schools. The study population included 8,431 JSS2 students while the sample included ninety-six (96) students. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The Mathematics Performance Test (MPT) was used to collect the data, the instrument was validated and the reliability was determined to be 0.82. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level. The result of the study revealed that there was a significant difference in the performance of students taught properties of plane shapes with mathematics laboratory instructional approach and those taught with the conventional approach. Also, no significant difference existed in the performance of students taught properties of plane shapes with mathematics laboratory instructional approach by gender. This study, therefore, recommended among others that all secondary schools should have a Mathematics laboratory.