Effect of Collaborative Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy On Students’ Attitudes Towards Mathematics In Secondary Schools In Kenya

Abstract

Conceptual understanding and attitudes have emerged in recent discoveries as the critical factors contributing to the continued inertia in performance in the subject. This study sought to establish the effect of Collaborative Concept Mapping teaching strategy on secondary school students’ development of affective domain. Specifically, the study sought to find out if there was any difference in Students’ attitude toward Mathematics subject when taught using the Collaborative Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy and the Conventional Methods of Instruction. The theoretical framework is based on constructivist theory which views learners as active constructors of meaning from input by processing it through existing cognitive structures and retaining it in the long-term memory. This study used a Quasi-experimental Solomon Four-Fold research design. The sample for the study comprised 161 forms three students and 4 teachers of mathematics from 4 randomly selected sub-county co-educational secondary schools in the 4 sub-counties of Bomet County. The four co-educational schools were randomly assigned into two experimental (E1 & E2) and two control (C1 & C2) groups. Students in the experimental group were taught using Collaborative Concept Mapping (CCM) Teaching Strategy for three weeks while the control group was taught using Conventional Methods of Instruction. Students’ Attitude Towards Mathematics Questionnaire (SATMQ) was used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis which included frequencies, mean, t-test and ANOVA. All the statistical tests were subjected to a test of significance at alpha (α) level of 0.05. The results revealed that there were statistically significant difference attitudes towards mathematics in favour of CCM between students exposed to Collaborative Concept Mapping teaching strategy and those taught using Conventional Method of Instruction. From the findings it can be concluded that the attitude towards mathematics is marked higher when the students are taught using the Collaborative Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy than when the conventional method is employed. Based on the findings, recommendations were made on the need for teachers to integrate Collaborative Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy (CCM) teaching strategy in the mathematics instruction to foster positive attitude in the subject. There is also need for teacher training institutions to incorporate CCM as one of the strategies in mathematics instruction and that the serving teachers can be retooled to enable them to integrate CCM teaching strategy effectively in Mathematics learning. Mathematics curriculum developers need to restructure and integrate CCM among learner-centred strategies in Mathematics education.