Effect of Slide Game on Student’s Achievements and Interest in Algebraic Concepts
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the Study
The purpose of the study is to determine the effect of slide game on student’s achievements and interest in algebraic concepts. Specifically, the study seeks to;
- determine the achievement score of students in algebra when taught using Slide game approach and non- Slide game approach (conventional approach).
- determine the mean interest score of students in algebra when taught using Slide game approach and non- Slide game approach (conventional approach)
- determine mean achievement score of male/female students in algebra when taught using Slide game approach and non-Slide game approach (conventional approach).
- determine the mean interest score of male/female students in algebra when taught using Slide game approach and no-Slide game approach (conventional approach).
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter presents a review of relevant literature of this work. Literatures were reviewed under the following sub headings; conceptual frame work theoretical framework, empirical studies and summary of literature.
Conceptual Framework
- Concept of Game /Mathematical Game
- Strategies and Methods of Teaching Mathematics
- Achievement in Mathematics
- Interest in Mathematics
Theoretical Framework
- Theory of J. Brunner
- Theory of Piaget
- Theory of Vygotsky
Empirical studies
- Empirical Studies on Mathematics Games
- Empirical Studies on Achievement in Mathematics
- Empirical Studies on Interest in Mathematics
- Empirical Studies on Methods of Teaching and Gender as a Factor in Achievement in Mathematics
Summary of Literature Reviewed Conceptual Framework
Concept of Game/ Mathematical Games
Several definitions of game have been given by various authors and researchers. The following are some of the definitions;
A game is a situation in which two or more participants/player confronts one another in pursuit of certain conflicting objectives (Agwagah, 2001).
Game is competitive activities involving skill, chance or any endurance of the two or more persons who play according to a set of rules usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators (Webster International Dictionary, 1995).
A game is a contest (play) between adversaries (players) operating under constrains (rules) in order to achieve an objective (winning or pay off) (Ellington and Percival in Agwagah, 2001). A game is a type of play that follows a set of rules, aims at a definite goal or outcome, and involves competition against other players or against barrier imposed by the nature of the game itself (Maimbolawa- Sinyangwe and Thomas in Agwagah, 2001). From the above definitions a game is therefore an interaction between two or more people (players) following specified conditions (rules) to compete with the aim of achieving a certain goal (winning or losing).
Harbor Peters (2001) stated that in other to ameliorate boredom and aversion in mathematics teaching and learning the use of models, games and simulation has been proposed. Although, in using games to teach and achieve an instructional objectives, care has to be taken as many games are not suitable to teach an instruction. Some of them are just for amusement and nothing more.
An instructional game is therefore defined as a structured activity with set rules for play in which two or more students interact to reach clearly designated instructional objectives (Brown & Harcleroad in Harbor- Peters, 2001). Educational games are recreational activities which teach people how to utilize their leisure time in constructive manner (Ezeamenyi , 2001).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter presents the method and procedure, the researcher intends to adopt in conducting the research. It is subdivided into the following units; Design, Area of study, Population of the study, Sampling and Sampling procedure, Instrument for data collection, Validation of the Instrument, Reliability of the instrument, Experimental procedure, Control of extraneous variables, method of data collection and method for data analysis.
Design of the Study
The quasi-experimental design was used for this study. This is because intact classes were used to minimize Hawthorne effect and disruption of normal classes. Specifically, the non-randomized control group pre-test-post-test design was used to ensure homogeneity of groups ( Ali, 2006 &Smith, 2009). The intact classes were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
This chapter is concerned with the presentation of results from data analysis. The results are presented in tables according to the research questions and hypotheses that guided the study.
Research Question I: What are the mean achievement scores of students in algebra when taught using slide game approach and non-slide game approach (conventional) respectively? Table 1: Mean and Standard Deviation of Pretest and Posttest Achievement Scores of Students Taught Algebra Using Slide Game Approach and those Taught Using Conventional
From table 1 above, it can be seen that the mean in pre-test for the experimental group is 29.93 with a standard deviation of 7.74 while the mean in the pre-test for control group is 30.83 with standard deviation of 9.37. The mean for the post test for the experimental group is 52.03 with standard deviation of 16.97 while that of control group has a post- test mean of 47.32 with standard deviation of 14.78. The pre-test and post- test mean difference of experimental and control are 22.1 and 16.4 respectively and with a mean gain of 19.25
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION IMPLICATION, RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY AND
CONCLUSION
This chapter is organized under the following subheadings; discussion of findings, implications of findings, recommendations, limitations of the study and conclusion.
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
From the results presented in chapter four, the result in table 1 showed that the students taught algebra with slide game had higher mean achievement score in post- test than the students taught with conventional approach. This was supported by the (ANCOVA) as shown in table 5 in chapter four. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) statistics revealed that hypothesis one was rejected since the significance of the method as main effect of .000 was less than the already set alpha value at < 0.05. Hence the difference in mean achievement scores between the experimental and control groups was statically significant. This indicates that the use of Slide game improved student’s achievement in algebra.
The improved achievement of the experimental group over control group is in agreement with the findings of Harbor-Peter (2001) in a research proposing the use of games, stated that in order to ameliorate boredom and aversion in mathematics teaching and learning the use of models, games and simulation should be included in the classroom teaching. It is also in line with Agwagah (2001), when the researcher stated that games encourage creative thinking in pupils, stir the sense, stimulate inquisitiveness and promote understanding of the concept. The algebraic concept was better understood by the students of experimental group and this enhanced their high achievement. This agrees with the finding of Ona (2004) in which the author found that the use of games in teaching indices improved student’s achievement in indices.
On the effects of gender on achievement in algebra due to exposure to slide game, table 3 of chapter four showed that post-test means for males in experimental group was 49.23 which is less than that of the females 50.05. But the result of table 7 showed that hypothesis 3 was upheld since probability level of 0.347 is greater than already set alpha of p < 0.05. Thus the difference in the mean achievement of male and female students in experimental group was not statistically significant.
It can be inferred from the above result that the use of Slide game improved the achievement of both male and female students in algebra. This gender parity in achievement of experimental group is in line with the findings of Okigbo & Osuafor (2008) that there is no significant difference between the achievement levels of male and female students taught with mathematics laboratory. It also agrees with the report of Etukudo (2002) when the researcher reported that both male and female performed at par after exposing them to Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI). Hence Etukudo asserted that sex related differences in terms of achievement can be completely eradicated when some instructional strategy like CAI or games are properly used in teaching mathematics concepts . On the issue of interaction effect between the game approach and gender on student’s achievement in algebra, table 9 showed that the result of the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) makes hypothesis 5 not to be rejected since the significant of .241 for interaction of instructional approach and gender is greater than the already set alpha value of 0.05 level of significance. Therefore there is no significant interaction effect between game approach and gender on student’s achievement in algebra. This means that both male and female students responded equally in algebraic achievement test. This is in line with the finding of Ona (2004) that there is no significant interaction of male and female in the sample in terms of achievement. In other words all male and female students in the sample responded equally in terms of achievement. On the effect of Slide game on student’s interest, table 2 and 4, research subjects in experimental group indicate significant greater interest in algebraic concept than those in control group. This implies that the students taught with slide game approach develop more interest than their control group counterparts.
CONCLUSION
Based on the results of the findings of the study, the researcher drew the following conclusions;
- The use of Slide game enhanced student’s achievements and interest in The students in the control group achieved less and had lower interest.
- Slide game as a teaching strategy has been found to favor both male and female subjects equally in mean achievement and their mean
- The interaction effect between game approach and gender on achievement was not statistically
- Generally, the game approach has positively influenced the subjects of this study. Hence the mathematics teachers should endeavor to combine games or other instructional aids with mathematics instruction, so as to improve the achievement and interest of students in mathematics.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION OF THE FINDINGS
The implication of the findings of this study is on teachers, students, ministry of education, curriculum planners and text book authors.
The result of this study has provided evidence on the efficacy of Slide game in teaching and learning algebra. Therefore, it suggests that more games could be developed by teachers and used to teach mathematics concepts, so as to improve the student’s achievements in mathematics. Since people learn to do things by doing, because what you do you understand, the students could be able to use the knowledge of the game played to solve problems in mathematics.
The interest of the students was improved significantly when slide game was used in teaching. So memorization of rules and facts of solving problem was also reduced. Consider the fact that Slide game was observed to have enhanced both male and female student’s achievement and interest in algebra.
RECOMMENDATIONS
With regards to the finding of the study and their implications to education, the researcher makes the following recommendations;
- Teachers of mathematics should inculcate the use of slide-game in teaching
- The games could be self- developed or already developed ones which will be effective in teaching mathematics concept.
- Government and post primary school management board should sponsor and provide a well -equipped mathematics laboratory, where the teacher can take the students for mathematics practical’s, (example playing of slide game).
- Teacher training institution should train their students, in-service teachers etc on how to develop mathematical games that will teach different topics or concepts in
- Government through the ministry of education should provide in-service training for mathematics teachers; organize workshops, seminars and conference on the teaching of mathematics (algebra) using game
- Mathematics text book author showed borrow a leaf from the researcher’s developed Slide game and develop more games to teach other topics or concept in
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
- There was no randomization of subjects so as not to disrupt the schools program of activities and so intact classes were used. This may have affected the results of this
- Although the individual differences of mathematics teachers as research assistants were not controlled, it may affect the
- Some factors like short instructional period of treatment in between school activities distraction might have influence the results obtained in the study
SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
The following suggestions are presented by the researcher for further study;
- As algebra begins from primary school mathematics curriculum, algebraic substitution and factorization games could be developed to teach algebraic concepts in primary school level and its effects on achievement and interest of pupils
- The effect of Slid game on some other mathematics topics or concepts can be
- Efforts should be made to conduct a similar research in a single sex(all boys versus all girls)
SUMMARY OF THE STUDY
This study was necessitated by the persistent poor performance of Nigeria secondary school students in school certificate examination of WAEC and NECO as revealed by literature. Several factors have been proffered as the cause of this situation among which teaching method took a greater share. To this effect, the researcher therefore conducted a study to ascertain the effect of Slide game on students’ achievements and interest in algebra.
This study employed a non- equivalent quasi-experimental design for investigation. The related literature for this study was reviewed. The sample for the study comprised 160 JSS11 students, (85 males and 75 females) drawn from 4 co-educational schools out of 46 co- educational school in Udenu Education Zone of Enugu State. Two intact classes from two co- education schools (one intact class each school) were randomly assigned to experimental group while the remaining two intact class from the other two co-educational school were randomly selected and assigned to control group. The experimental groups were taught algebra using Slide game while the control groups were taught algebra using conventional approach. Two testing instruments and two lesson plans were used for the study. The two instruments are Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) and Mathematics Interest Scale (MIS) with reliabilities of 0.78 and 0.87 respectively. The two lesson plans are Slide game lesson plan and conventional approach lesson plan.
REFERENCES
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