Effects of the Discovery Method on the Academic Achievement of Senior Secondary School Students in Mathematics

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the effects of the discovery method on the academic achievement of senior secondary school mathematics. The target population for this study consisted of 50 students from SS2 Mathematics Classes. The independent variables used are the teaching strategies at two levels (discovery methods of instruction and conventional teaching methods) and gender at two levels (male and female). The dependent variables are students’ achievement in mathematics. As a measure, a covariate was used. The test-retest approach was used on 25 SS-2 secondary school students from two schools not participating in the research to test for reliability. A reliability coefficient of 0.75* was obtained using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC). The Pearson product moment coefficient is appropriate for analysing interval data. The data collected was analysed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The hypotheses were tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to conduct an ANOVA to determine if the post-test scores differ between students taught with the discovery method of instruction and those taught with traditional methods, while controlling for students’ prior knowledge, the pre-test scores. A one-way ANOVA was used to gain information about the relationship between the dependent and independent variables.