THE EFFECT OF HEURISTIC STRATEGY IN THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MATHEMATICS; A STRATEGY FOR EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL PEDAGOGY

Abstract

This study investigated the Effect of Heuristic strategy in the academic performance of secondary school students in Mathematics: A Panacea for Education Development and Social Pedagogy in Ondo State, Nigeria. The study adopted quasi-experimental of pre-test, post-test, control group design. The population comprised all Senior Secondary Schools two (SSS II) students in public Senior Secondary Schools in Ondo State. The sample was made up of 108 Mathematics students in their intact classes in four selected secondary schools in two local governments’ area. Simple random sampling was used to select the two schools; the students were selected using random sampling technique. Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) was used to generate data for the study. The face and content validity of the instrument was ensured by experienced secondary school Mathematics teachers, experts in the Department of Test and Measurement. The reliability of the instrument was determined through a test- retest method which yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.86. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test analysis. The findings indicated that Heuristic teaching strategy was more effective than the one without Heuristic in enhancing student’s performance in Mathematics. The finding equally indicated that there was significant interaction effect of gender and strategies on students’ performance in Mathematics. Therefore the study recommends among others, that Mathematics teachers should employ the use of Heuristic teaching strategy in the teaching Mathematics in secondary schools.