ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of Multimedia and Problem-Based Learning Strategies on Students’ Academic Achievement, Retention and Interest in Mathematics in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Research Design adopted for the study was a non-equivalent Quasi-experimental Design. The population of this study comprised all 51,771 senior secondary school one students in Akwa Ibom State for the 2020/2021 academic session. The study was reviewed under three sub-headings which include conceptual framework, theoretical framework, empirical studies and summary of related literature. Sampling techniques used were multi stage sampling techniques involving simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques with the sample size of 155 (SS1) students from intact classes comprising of 64 male and 91 female students. Research instruments were Statistics Achievement Test (SAT), Statistics Retention Test (SRT) and Statistics Interest Scale (SIS) which were validated by three independent experts and subjected to reliability test of Kuder-Richardson’s Formular-20 which internal consistency of 0.90 was obtained. Eight research questions were formulated and eight null hypotheses were raised to guide the study. Research questions were answered using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation while Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA) was employed to test each of the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that there is a significant difference among academic achievement, retention and students’ interest in Mathematics when taught using Multimedia Computer Aided Learning (CAL), Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Conventional teaching strategies. Results also revealed that there was no significant interaction effect of teaching strategies, gender, retention and interest on students’ achievement in Mathematics. Problem-Based learning strategy was found to be the best in teaching Mathematics than Multimedia and Conventional strategies. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among others, that teachers should adopt the use of PBL strategy in teaching Mathematics since this strategy was found to be more effective than Multimedia and Conventional strategies.