INFLUENCE
OF TEXTBOOK AND PEER-PROVIDED ACTIVITIES ON LEARNING OUTCOMES OF AT-RISK
MATHEMATICS
STUDENTS
IN EKITI STATE SECONDARY
SCHOOLS,
NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
This study compared the
influences of textbook and peer provided activities on the performances of
at-risk Mathematics Students among 120 junior secondary school three students,
selected from three Senatorial District of Ekiti State. Based on students’
performance in the General Mathematics Ability Test (GMAT). The study adopted
the non-equivalent pre-test, post-test control group design.
Research
findings revealed that:
Ø
The
influence at peer-provided activities on the performances of at-risk
Mathematics Students was influenced significantly better than at-risk students
provided with textbook.
Ø The attitudinal
effect on at-risk mathematics students’ peer provided activity was
significantly better than at-risk students provided with textbook on their
performances.
Ø
The
retention ability of at-risk mathematics students with peer provided activity
was significantly better than textbook provided activity.
Resultantly, it was however concluded
that learning outcomes of at-risk mathematics students would be significantly
improved with the uses of peer provided activity.
Introduction
Mathematics
is a compulsory subject in the Nigeria Secondary School Curriculum. This is
important because of the contribution of the subject to a child's education for
technological development of any nation; the teaching of Mathematics is made
compulsory in our secondary school in Nigeria. From many years back, students
have been facing the problem of poor performance in Mathematics. What has also
become a main concern is the negative attitude of students towards mathematics.
In the National Policy on Education (2004), Mathematics is one of the leading
core and compulsory subjects in the Junior and Senior Secondary School
Curricula.
Okereke
(2002) observed that despite the place of Mathematics in the development of a
nation, students and pupils acclaim the subject to be very difficult and thus
dreaded. There is no doubt that students believe that Mathematics is abstract
and difficult to understand.
Bolaji
(2005) found that teachers' characteristics and activities have greater effects
on students' attitudes towards Mathematics. Seweje and Idiga (2003) also
pointed out to the evidence that students working together in peer learning
groups develop better collaboration skills than students in other types of
classrooms, are more motivated with better attitudes towards a subject and more
likely to grow in the use of higher order thinking skills.
Students
spend much of their time in classroom working on mathematical tasks chosen from
textbook. In recognition of the central importance of textbook, the framework
of the third international Mathematics and science study (TIMSSS) included
large-scale cross-national analysis of Mathematics curricula and textbooks as
part of its examination of mathematics education and attainment in almost 50
nations (valverde et al, 2002). They claim that textbook are the print
resources most consistently used by teachers and their students in the course
of their common work. Textbook are a major source of provision of these
educational opportunities.
Jeje
(2015) opined that there are many attributes of a textbook that can affect the
attitude and achievement of a learner. These are the structure, the
organization, the presentation format which includes the colour, the front
type, the front size, the illustrations, the content, the examples, the
task-range and order. There are attributes that can contribute to like or
dislike, interest of disinterest, attraction or repulsion and ultimately increases
positive or negative attitude of learners and users.
Webb
and Mastergeorge (2003) defined peer tutoring a people from similar social
grouping who are not professional teachers, helping each to learn and learning
themselves by teacher. Peer tutoring also known as peer teaching is the system
of instruction in which students works in pair to support each others' learning.
This format has been extensively studied in general education which was founded
to enhance students cognitive and social learning. Calhoon and Fucks (2003)
found that peer-assisted learning strategies improved computation Mathematics
skill for the secondary school students with disabilities. Also, the peer
tutoring improved currency skills for student with moderate mental retardation.
The effectiveness of peer tutoring on Mathematics learning for students with
learning at-risk still need to be investigated.
In
Physical education, peer teaching structure have been investigated in different
aged target groups in general. These studies have shown increased student
response and increased percentages of correct student performance (Johnson and
Ward, 2001). They discovered that low-skilled students as well as high skilled
students benefit from peer tutoring. However, out of all peer tutoring strategies,
is one of the most commonly employed in Physical educations setting (Moston and
Arhworth, 2002).
Purpose
of the Study
The
purpose of this study was to examine the influence of textbook and
peer-provided activities on learning outcomes of At-risk Mathematics students
in Ekiti State Secondary Schools.
Research Hypotheses
From
the objectives, the following null hypotheses were generated and tested at 0.05
level of significance,
(i)
There
is no significant difference in the performance of at-risk students that were
provided with textbook and peer activities
(ii)
There
is no significant difference in the attitude to mathematics of at-risk students
provided with textbook and peer-provided activities on students' attitude
(iii)
There is
no significant difference
in the retention
ability of at-risk mathematics student provided with
textbook and peer activities.
Research Design
Population, sample and Sampling
Techniques
The
main population for this study included secondary school students in Ekiti State.
One school each from the three senatorial district were selected. There were
177 public junior secondary in Ekiti State as at the time of the study.
The
sample for the study consisted of 120 junior secondary school three (JSS III) students
randomly selected from the three senatorial districts of Ekiti State. General
Mathematical Ability Test (GMAT) was conducted for a school each from each of
the three senatorial districts to identify the at-risk Mathematics students. It
was due to this ability test that the researcher identify the sampling of 120
students who could not score to a basic minimum performance score of 40%. It
was from these three schools that the researchers now have 40 students from
each school that served as at-risk Mathematics students.
Research Instruments
The following research instruments were
used for data collection:
i.
General
Mathematical Ability Test (GMAT), this consisted of 25 item multiple choice questions.
The items were used to identify the at-risk Mathematics students from one
school in each of the three senatorial districts of Ekiti State,
ii.
Mathematics
Achievement Test (MAT) was used by the researcher. The MAT consisted of 25 item
multiple choice questions. These items were used both as pre-test and post-test
for the purpose of data collection,
Validity and Reliability of the
Instrument
The validity of the adopted attitude
questionnaire was ensured by giving it to three experts who are researchers in
this area. They were required to rate each item of the instruments. The
reliability of the instrument was determined by administering the Mathematics
achievement test (MAT) and the Mathematic attitudinal Scale (MAS). The
instruments were subjected to a split half method using Spearman brown prophecy
as a reliability estimate of 0.82 and 0.78 for both MAT and MAS respectively.
Data Analysis
Data
collected were analyzed using t-test, ANCOVA and Scheffe post-hoc pair wise
comparisons test were carried out to test hypothesis one, two and three respectively and all analyses
were carried out at 5% probability level of significance i.e. P = 0.05.
Results and Discussions
Ho1: There is no significant difference in the
performance of at-risk students that were provided with textbook and peer
activities.
Table 1: T-test
of at-risk students that were provided with textbook and peer activities.
Variables
|
N
|
X
|
SD
|
df
t-cal
|
t-tab
|
Textbook
|
40
|
8.20
|
2.94
|
||
78
7.45
|
1.96
|
||||
Peer
|
40
|
13.95
|
3.89
|
P<0.05
The
t-calculated (7.45) was greater than t-table (1.96) at 0.05 level of
significance. Thus the hypothesis is rejected. This means that there is
significant difference in the performance of at-risk students provided with
textbook and peer activities. The students under peer activities performed
better than their counterparts under textbooks activities.
Ho2: There is no
significant difference in the attitude to Mathematics of at-risk students
provided with textbook and peer activities.
Table 2: ANCOVA
of at-risk students' attitude provided with textbook and peer activities.
Sources
|
Type III Sum of Square
|
df
|
Mean
square
|
F
|
Sig(P)
|
Partial Eta
Square
|
Corrected Model Covariate
Attitude
Error
Total
Corrected Total
|
221.438 172.028 111.438 334.962
3026.000 1336.400
|
2
1
1
38
40
39
|
221.438
172.028
111.438
8.815
|
8.163 19.516 5.163
|
0.003 0.000 0.003
|
0.454
0.339
0.454
|
R2 = 0.328
(Adjusted R2 = 0.318)
From table
2, there was
significant difference in the
attitude of at-risk
students provided with textbooks and
peer activities as F(l, 38) = 5.163, P<0.05 and σ = 0.454. This value is
also greater than F-table (1, 38) = 3.00 at 0.05 level of significance.
Hence, the hypothesis is rejected.
Ho3:
There is
no significant difference in the retention
ability of at-risk mathematics students provided with
textbook and peer activities.
Table 3: ANCOVA
of at-risk student retention ability under textbook and peer activities.
Sources
|
Type III
|
df
|
Mean
|
F
|
Sig(P)
|
Partial
Eta
|
Sum of
|
Square
|
Square
|
||||
Square
|
||||||
Corrected Model
|
23.025
|
2
|
7.675
|
5.882
|
0.000
|
0.168
|
Covariate
|
9.027
|
1
|
9.027
|
7.003
|
0.000
|
0.366
|
Attitude
|
22.001
|
1
|
22.001
|
4.527
|
0.000
|
0.460
|
Error
|
313.375
|
38
|
8.705
|
|||
Total
|
3026.000
|
40
|
||||
Corrected Total
|
336.400
|
39
|
From
table 3, there was significant difference in the retention ability of at risk
mathematics students provided with textbook and peer activities as F(l, 38) =
4.537, P<0.05 and σ2 = 0.460. This value is also greater than
F-table (1, 38) = 3.00 at 0.05 level of significance. Hence, the hypothesis is
rejected.
The
post-hoc test in the table 4 below indicated the level of influence between
textbooks and peers activities on at-risk students attitude and retention
ability to Mathematics.
Table 4: Scheffe
Post-hoc for Students' attitude and retention ability under the groups.
Groups
|
Attitude
|
Retention
Ability
|
Textbooks
|
8.20
|
56.25
|
Peer- Activities
|
13.95
|
64.80
|
The mean difference of at-risk
students in both groups is in favour of students provided with peer activities
as the mean values were greater than their counterparts under textbooks.
Discussion
The findings of this study
compared the influence of textbook and
peer-provided activities on performance of at-risk mathematics students. The background
of students was equal across the two groups.
The result presented in table I shows
that the T-test of at-risk students that were provided with textbook and peer
activities shows there is significant different in the performance of at risk
students as t-calculated (7.45) was greater than t-table (1.96). Table II shows
that the ANCOVA of at-risk students’ attitude provided with textbook and peer-activities
shows that there was significant difference in the attitude of at-risk
students. Here the hypothesis was rejected. Table III shows that the ANCOVA of
at-risk students retention ability under textbook and peer activities. Also,
there was a significant difference in the retention ability the hypothesis was
also rejected. The post-hoc test in the table IV shows the level of influence
between textbook and peers activities on at-risk students’ attitude and
retention ability to mathematics. Hence, the mean difference of at-risk
students in both groups is in favour of students provided with peer activities
as the mean values was greater than their counterparts under textbooks.
Conclusion
The findings concluded
that the at-risk students’ performance provided with peer activity performed
significantly higher under attitude and retention ability.
Recommendation
It was recommended that
mathematics teachers should be encouraged by government and schools to use peer
provided activities in their teaching of mathematics in the classroom. As this
had been found to improve the learning outcomes of students.
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