EFFECT OF TWO TEACHING METHODS OF TEACHING QUADRATIC EQUATION ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION      

1. 1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

There are many ways of doing many things we encounter in our environment and all life endeavors. The field of education is not an exception. In imparting knowledge to learners with the purpose of achieving a desired positive objective in the end, there are several ways to adopt for that.

In overcoming a task, although there are many ways of doing so, one could think of the best and most efficient and quickest means to overcome such a task. Hence we are interested in not only knowing ways of doing things but knowing the best way of doing that in order to achieve the desired objective within the shortest possible time.

In the teaching of any mathematics topic, there is always a controversy on which method that can serve best. This is because mathematics is one of the most important subjects in the curriculum of most countries and one of the most difficult subjects to students and adults, something that has been expensively studied by researchers such as Nnadozie (1995) and others. It is then necessary that we examine two methods out of many methods of teaching and determine the best and most suitable method with respect to teaching quadratic equations. There are many methods as there are many concepts to be learnt which demands that efforts should be made by teachers to discover the best method for each concept for quickest achievement of the objectives.

1. 2   Statement of Problem

It has been observed that student run away from mathematics class. The significance of mathematics is undoubted. It is invaluable in all facets of learning in our society. The fact that there are many methods of teaching mathematics call for a critical study of those methods and possibly discover the effective approach that could be used in handling the various mathematical problems. The approaches to solving quadratic equations are many, but there is need to determine whether those approaches yield similar results or different results as the case may be when applied. The poor performance of students in the examination on this note has been always attributed to the teacher’s method, which is often said to be poor. Hence there is need to know how teaching method can really influence academic excellence.

Other reasons have been given for this poor performance of students by many authorities. Ezike and Obodo (1990) observed that some of the students feel that mathematics is uninteresting because they find it difficult to understand and consequently perform poorly in it. Ezike noted also that poor qualified mathematics teachers, Lack of qualified mathematics teachers and the students’ negative attitude towards the subject contribute to their poor performance in mathematics.

Part of factors affecting mathematics achievement could be related to teachers’ teaching method which according to A.E Eze (2002) is a way or procedure of teaching.

On the basic of the foregoing, therefore, this study was designed to investigate the impact of methods of teaching quadratic equation on students’ performance.

1.3    Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to find out how teacher’s teaching method can influence his attaining his desired objectives. There is a belief that the students’ truancy, poor attitude to mathematics and generally poor performance in the subject would be highly minimized. Since we cannot completely avoid mathematics in our lives, it is then good that we adopt measures to tackle its problems effectively through effective teaching of the subject to the learners at all levels of education.

1.4     Significance of the Study

The researchers are of the view that the result of the study will enable students to develop the Love of mathematics and this will lead to improved performance in mathematics and its related courses. The result of the study will also make future policy makers on education to know the teaching methods to emphasize.

It will also produce citizens that will be well grounded in mathematics as to face the challenging world of science and technology. This will move our country forward economically and otherwise.

1.5    Scope of the Study

The area under which this study is taken is from Nsukka Local Government Area in Enugu state. Two secondary schools are selected from the local Government Area for the study the aspect that was taken from mathematics content is the topic “quadratic equation” of the form ax2 + bx + c = 0 where a, b and c are numerals.

The method under which this topic was discussed are completing the square method, factorization method and general formula.

The SSII students were used for the study in the area. Out of the several methods of teaching, Expository and Discovery methods in teaching quadratic equations were considered

1.6     Research Questions

This work is intended to provide answer to the following research questions.

1.      Is there any difference between the mean scores of the students taught quadratic equation with Discovery method and those taught with Expository method in the pre-test?

2.      Do the students in both groups have equal mean scores in the post-test?

1.7             Hypotheses

Ho1: The population means from within which the two groups are selected are significantly equal at 0.05 level of significance in the pre-test.

HO2: The mean score of the students who were taught quadratic equation using Discovery method is not significantly greater than those taught using Expository method in the post-test at 0.05 level of significance.

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