Differential effects of peer pairing, cooperative, and indirect instructional strategies on reducing dyscalculia among junior secondary school students

Abstract

This is a quasi-experimental research designed to determine the differential effects of peer pairing, cooperative, and indirect instructional strategies on dyscalculia reduction among Junior Secondary Mathematics students. The population consisted of all the public Junior Secondary School I (JSSI) students in Ideato-South Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria. A sample of 85 students from four (4) intact classes was drawn using a Dyscalculia Test (DT) to determine students with dyscalculia problem while Diagnostic Mathematics Test (DMAT) was used to determine high achieving students for Peer Pairing. The experimental groups A, B, and C belonged to the experimental group, and D belonged to the control group. Students in the experimental group were taught with the peer pairing, cooperative, and indirect instructional strategies while those in the control group were taught with the teacher's conventional method. The treatment lasted for 8 weeks of 16 sessions. Students' Mathematics Achievement Test (SMAT) was administered to the subjects at the end of treatment. DT, DMAT and SMAT were validated by experts and their reliability assessment produced coefficients of 0.73 0.77 and 0.85 respectively. Data collected were analyzed with Mean (x), Standard Deviation (SD), t-test, One Way and Two Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results obtained after data analysis indicated that there was a significant effect of the peer pairing, cooperative, and indirect instructional strategies on dyscalculia reduction among students; the peer pairing strategy emerged as the most effective in dyscalculia reduction; there was a significant difference in dyscalculia reduction between students in the experimental and control groups, in favour of those in the experimental group. Finally, gender was found to be a factor in the effects of treatment in dyscalculia reduction, in favour of male students. Based on these results, the recommendation was made for the adoption of peer peer-pairing instructional approach in dyscalculia reduction among secondary school students.