Efficacy of Study Questions and Concept Maps as Advance Organizers on Students’ Achievement and Interest in Differential Calculus in Mathematics

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the efficacy of study questions and concept maps as advance organizers on students’ achievement and interest in differential calculus. Six research questions and six null hypotheses guided the study. The study employed the 2×2 factorial design. The population of the study is one thousand, eight hundred (1800) SSIII mathematics students in the co-educational secondary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area consisting of eight hundred and twenty-eight (828) males and nine hundred and seventy-two (972) females. A sample of one hundred and eighty-four (184) SS III students consisting of ninety (90) male and ninety-four (94) female from 4 co-educational schools in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State were selected through simple random sampling technique. Two instruments were use for the data collection: Differential calculus achievement test (DCAT) and Differential calculus interest scale (DCIS). A test blue print was developed to ensure the content validity of the DCAT while the DCIS was subjected to factor analysis to ensure its construct validity. The reliability index of DCAT was obtained using Kudder Richardson formula as 0.81 while the reliability index of DCIS was obtained as 0.92 using Cronbach Alpha. Mean and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the analysis showed that study questions as advance organizers is more effective than concept maps as advance organizers in enhancing students’ achievement and interest in differential calculus. The results also showed that there was statistically significant difference in the mean achievement of male and female students in differential calculus. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference in the interest ratings of the male and female students in differential calculus. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that mathematics teachers should incorporate the study questions as advance organizers strategy in the teaching and learning of mathematics