Development and Validation of a Practical Manual for The Improvement of Learners’ Interest and Achievement in Mathematics in Abia State College of Education (Tech) Arochukwu

• Author(s): Nduaguibe Ugochukwu Joe. ; Nwaokorie Enyinnaya Samuel
• Paper ID: 1710030
• Page: 586-594
• Published Date: 21-08-2025
• Published In: Iconic Research And Engineering Journals
• Publisher: IRE Journals
• e-ISSN: 2456-8880
• Volume/Issue: Volume 9 Issue 2 August-2025

Abstract

Most Nigerian students at all levels of education see the subject “mathematics” as a nightmare. This has resulted into poor performance in the subject as well as high profiled examination malpractice as the students do not have confidence that they can pass the subject without external assistance. This is more pronounced in the tertiary institutions, Abia State College of Education (Technical) Arochukwu being a typical example. Due to its cumbersomeness and complicated proceedings, students have totally lost interest in its study. This is evident in the enrollment of students in the Department of Mathematics in several higher institutions. While other departments are rejecting students on the basis that they have admitted the maximum number they require, department of mathematics is clamouring for student enrollment. If this situation continues, time will come when not even a single student will enroll to study mathematics. Majority of students feel mathematics only stresses their life and has no real life application. Some other students lost interest because the subject is taught theoretically and the whole calculations bothers on an individual intelligent quotient and as such, only gifted people can study it. There is therefore need to come up with a mathematics manual on practical approaches to mathematics which will arouse the interests of learners and at the same time achieve academic success. This research aims at developing a mathematics practical manual that will adopt captivating (real life situations and games) and technological (softwares, programming, social media and internet) approach of teaching mathematics in order to improve leaners’ interest and at the same time achieve learning of the subject. To be able to do this, the researcher conducted literature review that culminated into writing the introduction which gives an overview of the subject, its nature, importance, methods and real life application. The next section captures the reasons that necessitated the development of the practical manual followed by the objectives of the study which centers on the development and testing of the manual. The literature review section contains other manuals previously developed by other researchers on the subject. The research lead to the production of a practical manual on mathematics that will improve learners’ interest and drive home the learning of the subject thereby achieving academic success in Abia State College of Education (Technical) particularly and Nigeria in general. The manual was produced and the validity was tested. The population of study was small and can be managed so there was no need for sampling. The result of the test shows the mean interest of the students when the manual was used to be 61% wheras it was 45% when traditional method was used. The paired sample t test shows a significant difference in interest of students using the manual as the p-Value was 0.000001 which less than the specified 0.05. Similarly, the ANOVA result shows that there is a significant difference in performance of students when the manual is used as the F calculated was found to be 400.76 and the p-Value was found to be 0.013. It was concluded that the developed manual boasted the interest and performance of students in mathematics. It also helped

Citations

IRE Journals:
Nduaguibe Ugochukwu Joe. , Nwaokorie Enyinnaya Samuel "Development and Validation of a Practical Manual for The Improvement of Learners’ Interest and Achievement in Mathematics in Abia State College of Education (Tech) Arochukwu" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 9 Issue 2 2025 Page 586-594

IEEE:
Nduaguibe Ugochukwu Joe. , Nwaokorie Enyinnaya Samuel "Development and Validation of a Practical Manual for The Improvement of Learners’ Interest and Achievement in Mathematics in Abia State College of Education (Tech) Arochukwu" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 9(2)