INTEREST AND GENDER AS INTERPLAYING EFFECTS OF THE ALGEBRAIC BOARD GAME ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ALGEBRA IN ONITSHA EDUCATION ZONE OF ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study examined interest and gender as interplaying effects of the algebraic board game on secondary school students in algebra in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra State. One research question was posed and two hypotheses formulated to guide the study. Quasi-experimental (Non-equivalent control group design) was used for the study. The sample used for the study was 320 male and female senior secondary two students purposively selected from one in-tact class each of the eight schools in the zone. The instrument used for the study was Algebraic Interest Scale (ALIS). Cronbach Alpha was used to compute the reliability index for ALIS and it was found to be 0.70. Research assistants were trained for the experiment and extraneous variables were controlled. Mean and Standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was adopted in testing the hypotheses at
0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study showed that the interest of students taught 
algebra using the algebraic board game improved significantly more than those taught using the expository method. More-so, there was no significant difference in the mean interest scores of male and female students taught algebra using the algebraic board game. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that algebraic board game should be used by mathematics teachers in teaching algebra in order to arouse the students’ interest; students both male and female should be encouraged to develop team spirit during their learning interaction for enhancement of their interest in mathematics.