The Effect of Improvised Computer-Based Software Package on Secondary School Students’ Achievement and Attitude Towards Mathematics

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the effect of improvised computer-based software on the achievement and attitude of senior secondary school students towards mathematics. Fifteen secondary school mathematics teachers were trained to produce a computer-based software package and use the package to teach ‘graphical solution to quadratic equations’ to senior secondary class one (SSCI) students. A total sample of 1487 SSCI students was used in the study: 745 students in the 15 secondary schools purposively selected on the rationale of their closeness to a computer center, used as the experimental group, and 742 students from the 15 schools randomly selected for use as the control group. Pre-test, post-test, and quasi-experimental research designs were used to conduct the study. Fifteen intact classes were simultaneously used for treatment in the experimental and control groups. The experimental groups were taught with computers using the computer-based software package on teaching graphical solutions to quadratics equations produced by their teacher, while the control groups were taught using the conventional strategy. The result reveals a significant difference in academic achievement between students taught with improvised computer-based software packages and those taught using the conventional strategy. The mean achievement score of 73% and standard deviation of 9% was obtained from the experimental group, while the control group had a mean achievement of 57% and standard deviation of 5%.

Similarly, the experimental group had an attitude test score of 82% and a standard deviation of 6%, while the control group had a mean attitude test score of 59% and a standard deviation of 11%. This gave the calculated value of the t-test as t = 42.3 for achievement and t = 50.1 for attitude, showing a significant difference in achievement and attitude between the experimental and control groups. Thus, an improvised computer-based software package is more effective in teaching mathematics than the conventional strategy. Hence, improvising computer-based software for teaching and learning is highly recommended.