Influence of Advance Organizers on Students’ Interest in Mathematics in Maiduguri Zonal Education of Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study explores the influence of the advance organiser strategy on students’ interest in mathematics in the Maiduguri zonal education of Borno State with two guided objectives, two research questions and two formulated hypotheses. The study design used an experimental research design involving two intact classes (one experimental and one control group). The target population of the study was 19 secondary schools with a total population of 65,628 students, 30,628 male and 35,000 female. The samples were two schools randomly selected with two intact classes (Experimental and control). The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire titled 'Mathematics Interest Questionnaire (MIQ) and it was validated and then pilot tested and its reliability index was calculated using PPMC to obtain 0.91. The data collected through administering the MI questionnaire to the respondents and the data collected were analysed using the U-test at the alpha (α) = 0.05 level of significance. The result revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in students’ level of interest in mathematics and the practical significance highlighting the influence of teaching mathematics with an advance organiser, and there is no significant difference in students’ level of interest between male and female. The study has significantly contributed and highlights the prospective usefulness of Advance Organizer in enhancing students’ interest in learning Mathematical concepts and recommends that the mathematics teachers should frequently use the Advance Organizers in teaching Mathematics to attract the minds of learners towards the subject.