Effect of structured and guided investigation techniques on the interest of college students in mathematics in Nigeria

Abstract

The main concern of the study is the attractiveness of the students to mathematics. The population for the study consisted of NCE students at teacher  training colleges in Oyo State, Nigeria. Three hypotheses, tested at a significance level of 0.05, guided the study. The Mathematics Interest Inventory (MII)  served as an instrument for data collection. The experiment to determine the coefficient of internal consistency of the MII items was performed  using Cronbach Alpha. The reliability coefficient calculated for MII was 0.91. ANCOVA was used to test the hypotheses. The study found that both guided  and structured interviews arouse students' interest, but that the guided interview teaching method arouses students' interest more effectively than the  structured interview technique in mathematics. The study also found that there was an influence of gender on students' interest in mathematics, with  boys being favoured. There were no interaction effects of treatment and gender on the interest of college students in mathematics. Therefore, the  effectiveness of the guided inquiry technique on students' interest in mathematics was independent of gender. It was therefore recommended that the  Ministries of Education, and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) should regularly organize workshops, seminars and conferences  for Mathematics teachers to deepen and improve their knowledge and skills in using the teaching techniques with guided inquiry improvement, among  other recommendations.