Effect of Hands-On Activities on Pupils’ Interest, Task Persistence and Academic Achievement in Mathematics in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of hands-on activities on pupils’ interest task persistence and academic achievement, in Mathematics in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State. Five research questions and five null hypotheses were used as a guide. More so, a quasi-experimental research design was adopted. Specifically, the pretest-posttest non-equivalent group design was employed. The population of the study consists of 2,674 primary five pupils in the 114 primary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area. The sample size of the study is 103 (57 males and 46 females) primary five pupils. A simple random sampling technique was used to draw two schools from the 114 schools in Nsukka Local Government Area. In each of the two schools drawn, categorized as school A and school B respectively, two intact classes of primary five pupils were used. School A served as the experimental group with 53 (30 males and 23 females) while school B served as the control group with 50 (27 males and 23 females) respectively. Mathematics Academic Achievement Test (MAAT), Pupils Mathematics Interest Scale (PMIS) and Mathematics Task Persistence Scale (MTPS) were used for data collection. Face and content validities were ensured by three experts. Confirmatory factor analysis formed the basis for construct validity. Internal consistency through Cronbach alpha gave reliability coefficients of 0.793 and 0.865 for Pupils Mathematics Interest Scale (PMIS) and Mathematics Task Persistence Scale (MTPS). The internal consistency reliability coefficient of Mathematics Academic Achievement Test (MAAT) was determined to be 0.748 using Kuder-Richardson₂₀ formula (KR-₂₀). Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) is adopted for testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The eta squared value was used to determine the experimental effect size on the subjects. The findings show that pupils’ mathematics interest, task persistence and achievement significantly improved after being exposed to hands-on activities when compared to pupils not exposed to similar experiment. Also, the findings showed that methods and gender had no interaction effect on mathematics interest and achievement of the pupils but had significant interaction effect on their mathematics task persistence. It is recommended that Head-teachers should avail the teachers opportunities through seminars, conferences and workshops on capacity development that can enhance the application of hands-on activities in Mathematics classes in order to improve on pupils’ interest, persistence and academic achievement in Mathematics. The teachers should provide varieties of hands-on activities that can properly engage the pupils in Mathematics.