Authors : Terhemen Moses Ityavzua, Theresa O. Ofoegbu, Abdullahi Muhammad and Nguuma Jimin
Abstract: This study investigated the effect of virtual mathematics laboratory on student’s achievement in secondary school geometry in North-Central geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The influence of gender on student’s academic achievement in circle geometry was also examined in the study. The study used a quasi-experimental research design specifically a non-equivalent pre-test, post-test control group design involving two intact classes. One intact class was taught with Virtual Mathematics Laboratory (VML) while the other was taught with Traditional Mathematics Laboratory (TML). Three research questions and three hypothesis guided the study. The population for this study consisted of 5657 students in SS2 from Co-educational Federal Government Colleges in the North-Central. The sample for the study consisted of 96 SS2 (55 males and 41 females) students. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to produce the sample. The instrument for data collection was the Geometry Achievement Test (GAT) developed and validated by the researchers. The internal consistency of GAT section B (Objective Test) was established to be 0.99 using Kuder Richardson’s Formula (K-R 20) while that of section C (Essay part) was determined using pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient of two scorers and a correlation coefficient of 0.81 was established. GAT was administered to the experimental and control groups as a pre-test after which the treatment commenced and lasted for 3 weeks. Then, the same instrument with serial numbers rearranged was administered to the subjects to produce post-test scores. The data generated from the two sets of tests were used to answer research questions and test the hypothesis. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypothesis were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The results obtained indicated that students taught circle geometry using VML achieved significantly higher than those taught using TML but there was no influence of gender on student’s achievement in circle geometry. The result also indicated that there was no significant interaction effect t of type of mathematics laboratory and gender on student’s achievement in circle geometry. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that, mathematics teachers and students should endeavour to use VML in teaching and learning circle geometry. Suggestions for further studies were made among which a study on other circle theorems and other topics in mathematics were suggested.
Terhemen Moses Ityavzua, Theresa O. Ofoegbu, Abdullahi Muhammad and Nguuma Jimin, 2019. Effect of Virtual Mathematics Laboratory on Senior Secondary School Student’s Achievement in Circle Geometry. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 14: 7404-7413.