Effect of Formative Assessment Methods on Mastery of Mathematics Course Content by Junior Secondary School Students in Obio-Akpor LGA of Rivers State (Published)
Formative assessment remains one of the most regular assessment tools which most teachers adopt in the process of assessing the performance of students. However, apart from just providing insight to the teacher, these methods over the years remain controversial on its ability to help students in gaining mastery of course content. Hence, the study focus on effect of formative assessment methods on mastery of mathematics course content by junior secondary school students in Obio-Akpor LGA of Rivers state. The study adopted the pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design. Three specific objectives and corresponding hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of 14,350 junior secondary school students in public schools in Obio-Akpor LGA of Rivers State. The sample size included eighty (80) participant drawn using multi-stage sampling process. The “Junior Secondary Mathematics Test” (JSMT) was used as instrument for data collection. Table of specification was used to validate the test while KR21 was used in determining a reliability index of 0.88. Participants were randomized into three experimental groups and one control group. Specifically, group A, B and C consisted of 20 participants who were given class test, take home assignments as well as engaging in class discussions respectively. Group D was tagged as the control group. In determining the cut off score for mastery of JSMT, the Angolf method was used by sending JSMT to five judges. From the average, the overall percentage for the five judges stood at 67.7% indicating that for any students to be considered and mastering the “Junior Secondary Mathematics Test” (JSMT), it is required that 34 of 50 test items must be correct. Mean, standard deviation and independent t-test was used in data analysis.
Keywords: Formative assessment, Mastery, Mathematics, assignments, class discussion, class test
Readability and Content Coverage Indices of Three Approved Mathematics Textbooks for Senior Secondary School Three in Akwa-Ibom State (Published)
The study investigated the readability and content coverage indices of three approved mathematics textbooks for senior secondary school three in Akwa-Ibom State. Two research questions and two corresponding hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted utilitarian evaluation research design. Three (3) out of the twelve (12) approved mathematics textbooks were drawn using simple random sampling technique. Purposive and non-proportionate stratified random sampling techniques were used to draw sixty (60) senior secondary school three students from population of 340 SSS3 students from three schools in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of Ikwa-Ibom State. The instruments used for data collection were the three approved mathematic textbooks, syllabus or scheme of work for SSS3 students and Mathematics Textbook Reading Level Evaluation Questionnaire (MTRLEQ). MTRLEQ was validated by three experts in measurement and evaluation for face and content validities. Gunning Fog Index and Topical Coverage index were used to answer the research questions. One-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) and Linear Chi-square were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. Based on the findings, it was observed that among the three mathematics textbooks, New General mathematics was read successfully by the students. Recommendations were made among others that mathematics textbooks should be written using simple English at the secondary school level.
Citation: Opara I. M. and Enang T.E. (2023) Readability and Content Coverage Indices of Three Approved Mathematics Textbooks for Senior Secondary School Three in Akwa-Ibom State, International Journal of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods, Vol.11, No.1, pp.12-23
Keywords: Content coverage, Mathematics, readability, textbooks