EFFECTS OF PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGY ON MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT AMONG MALE AND FEMALE PUPILS WITH LOW COGNITIVE SKILLS IN NIGER STATE

Abstract

The study examined the Effects of Problem Solving Strategy on Mathematics Achievement among Male and Female Pupils with Low Cognitive Skills in Niger State, Nigeria. One research question and one Hypothesis guided the study. Pretest- Posttest randomized group design (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2008) was adopted for the study. Six (6) Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly selected from the pool of twenty five (25) LGAs in Niger State through raffle draw method. The target population for the study was all the primary six pupils in Niger State while the sample size was two hundred andforty (240) primary sir pupils. This was randomly selectedfrom twelve (12) primary schools that were sampled for the study from the six (6) Local Government Areas used for the study. Six (6)primary schools (two from each Local Gov. Area) were randomly assigned to experimental group and the remaining six (6) to control group respectively. Experimental group was taught Mathematics concept using Problem Solving Strategy while the control group was taught the same concepts using conventional teaching method. Instrument used for the data collection was Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) comprised of 20-item structured questions which was developed by the researcher according to an approved table of specification using three themes under 9-Year Basic Education Curriculum. The instrnument was pilot tested using test retest method and r value of 0.86 was obtained. The study reveals that cognitive achievement scores of male pupils are higher than thosefemale peers. It is therefore recommended that Mathematics teachers should adopt Problem Solving Strateg to teach at bothprimary and secondary levels of our educational system.