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EFFECT OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ANDTEACHING METHODOLOGY ON MATHEMATICSACHIEVEMENT AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLSTUDENTS IN LAGOS NIGERIA

Lucas, Olufunke TaiwoDepartment of Educational Foundation, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria

This paper examined the effect of instructional materials and teaching methodology on mathematicsachievement among senior secondary school students in Lagos State. Descriptive survey researchdesign was adopted, and the population for the study comprises of all senior secondary school studentsin Lagos State. Simple random sampling technique was the sampling method used to select threesecondary schools in each educational district from the six educational districts in Lagos State. 18senior secondary schools were used for the study. The researcher selected 40 students from eachschool drawn from science, art and commercial class. A total number of 720 students were used forthe study. For the purpose of data collection three research instruments were used by the researcher,the instruments were titled: ‘’Questionnaire on Effect of Instructional Materials on MathematicsAchievement, Questionnaire on Effect of Teaching Methodology on Mathematics Achievement andStandardized Achievement Test in Mathematics. These instruments were self-developedquestionnaires. A reliability test was conducted on the instruments using test-retest method, areliability coefficient of 0.76 and 0.82 were obtained. In order to determine the effect of instructionalmaterials and teaching methodology on mathematics achievement among senior secondary schoolstudents in Lagos State three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide thestudy. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significant using Pearson Product MomentCorrelation statistics. The results revealed that teaching methodology has significant effect onmathematics achievement among senior secondary school students in Lagos State. Instructionalmaterials has significant effect on mathematics achievement among senior secondary school studentsin Lagos State. It was recommended that teachers should learn how to improvise instructionalmaterials from the local environment instead of using foreign materials that students are not familiarwith. Teacher should learn how to use diverse methodology in their teaching rather than restrictthemselves to a particular method.

Keywords: Instructional, Materials, Teaching, Methodology, Mathematics, Achievement.

JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL REVIEWVol. 8 • No. 2 • April-June 2015J E R

© Serials Publications

INTRODUCTION

Education is the greatest instrument which manhas devised for his own progress. All societies,therefore, have one form of education or another,but the use in which it is put varies. It is oftenconsidered being the only way of getting to the topin Nigeria and the whole wide world. Therefore,failure in education brings untold hardship andfrustration to the individual and to the society atlarge (Ilogu 2005). Education, as the key todevelopment, is mandated to upgrade teaching

effectiveness among educators as well as learningefficiency among students or the learners. Severalefforts by all stakeholders in education such asparents, teachers, policy makers, curriculumdevelopers and school administrators, have beenmade to improve the retention of secondary schoolstudents (Adeyemi 2005). Academic advising,orientations, facility improvements, mentoring, andcontinuous modifications to curriculum andpedagogy are being made continuously to ensurelearning improvement in secondary schooleducation in Nigeria. Most of these students’

158 JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL REVIEW, 8(2) 2015 © Serials Publications

support services have proven to be insufficient inimproving students’ retention among largepopulations of students in Nigeria schools.

Ilogu (2005) submitted that students learn in avariety of ways, and their ability to assimilateinformation also varies. A student’s capacity tolearn is impacted by the teacher’s style of conveyinginformation, that is, the teaching methodologyadopted by the teachers to facilitate learningprocesses. The fall in the standard of education andpoor quality of learning environment in Nigeriaschools are fingered by educationists and peoplewho had their education when the country’seducational system was good, especially in early1980s.

More recently, government at different levelsin the country have been somewhat reckless in theirdecisions, choice of programmes, policy formulation,implementation, monitoring and evaluation withusually undeserving interests in politicising,ethicising and sectionalising of Issues and approachto its work, mostly without considerations for thequality of education and services rendered.

Mathematics is a compulsory subject which cutacross every human facet, and is equally used inevery field of human endeavor; it also play adominant role in the economic development of acountry. The significance of Mathematics inproducing versatile and resourceful leaders that areneeded for economic development cannot be over-emphasised. This is why Setidisho (1996), affirmedthat Mathematics is a fundamental science that isnecessary for the understanding of most other fieldsin education. He stressed further that, it is obviousthat no other subject forms such a strong forceamong the various branches of science. Therefore,it can rightly be said that the significance ofMathematics in producing versatile and resourcefulleader that are needed for economic developmentcannot be over-emphasised.

The Science Teachers Association of Nigeria(1992) referred to Mathematics as the centralintellectual discipline of the technology societies.In his submission, Odusoro (2002) affirmed that theknowledge of science remains superficial withoutMathematics. It therefore means that, the positionof Mathematics in secondary school curriculum inNigeria is important for scientific development.However, it is disheartening that research and datafrom National Examination Bodies like WestAfrican Examinations Council (WAEC) and JointAdmission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) haveshown a consistent poor performance in this subject.

A recent research study by Afe (2001) showsthat instructional materials and teachingmethodology have an important influence onstudents’ academic achievement. The duo play acrucial role in educational attainment because theteacher methodology is ultimately responsible fortranslating policy into action and principles, basedon practice during interaction with the students.

Wright, Horn and Sanders (1997) in their study,concluded that the most important factorinfluencing student learning is the teaching methodbecause it is the only avenue that convey learning.Teachers stand as the interface in the transmissionof knowledge, values and skills in the teaching andlearning processes. If the teacher is ineffective,students under the teacher’s tutelage will achieveinadequate progress academically. This isregardless of how similar or different the studentsare in terms of individual potentials in academicachievement.

According to Rivkin, Hanusheck and Kain(2005), there has never been consensus on thespecific teacher factors that influence students’academic achievement. They examined theinfluence of teachers’ characteristics such asgender, effective use of instructional materials,educational qualifications and teaching experienceon students’ academic achievement with variedfindings. Akiri and Ugborugbo (2008), found thatthere was a significant relationship betweenteachers’ gender and students’ academicachievement. This is contrary to Dee in Akiri andUgborugbo (2008). Yala and Wanjohi (2011) andAdeyemi (2010) found that teachers’ experience andeducational qualifications were the primepredictors of students’ academic achievement.However, Ravkin (2005) found that teachers’teaching experience and educational qualificationswere not significantly related to students’achievement. Etsy (2005) study in Ghana found thatthe teacher factors has significantly contributed tolow academic achievement were incidences oflateness to school, incidences of absenteeism, andinability to complete the syllabi are prevalent.Oredein and Oloyede (2007) concluded thatteachers’ management of homework andassignments given to students have an impact onstudents’ achievement especially when it is wellexplained, motivational, corrected and reviewedduring class time and used as an occasion forfeedback to students. It is against this backgroundthat this study investigate the effect of instructionalmaterials and teaching methodology on

EFFECT OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND TEACHING METHODOLOGY ON MATHEMATICS... 159

mathematics achievement among senior secondaryschool students in Lagos Nigeria

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The theoretical framework for this study washinged on the following theories:

1. Robert Gagnes’ Theory of Instruction (1985)2. Abraham Maslow Need theory (1943)

ROBERT GAGNES THEORY OFINSTRUCTION

The theory of instruction was propounded by RobertGagnes in 1985. Gagnes distinguishes between twotypes of learning conditions which he classified asinternal and external. The internal conditions canbe described as state and this include attention,motivation and recall. The external conditionsaccording to Gagnes can be thought of as factorsurrounding an individual’s behaviour. This includethe arrangement and timing of stimulus events.Gagnes classified learning into four phases whichinclude the following:

1. Receiving the stimulus situation2. Stage of acquisition3. Storage4. RetrievalThe implication of this theory is that instruction

must be designed specifically in the context of thelearner, it should be designed to include a varietyof instructional methods in order to meet the needsof different learners. This theory is relevant to thisstudy because Gagnes explained that learninginstruction will determine the teaching objectivesand these objectives must then be categorised intoone of the five domains of learning objectives. Eachof the objective must be stated in performanceterms using one of the standard verbs (i.e. state,discriminates, classifies e.t.c) associated with theparticular learning outcome to determine theconditions necessary for learning. And finally, theevents of instruction must promote the initialprocess of learning which teachers are chosen andput into the lesson plan. The events in essencebecome the framework for the lesson plan.

ABRAHAM MASLOW’S HIERARCHYOF NEEDS

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs states thatwe must satisfy each need in turn, starting withthe first, which deals with the most obvious needsfor survival itself. Only when the lower order needsof physical and emotional well-being are satisfied

then we are concerned with the higher order needsof influence and personal development.

Maslow stipulated further that an individualis motivated by his needs. Since the most basicneeds are inborn, he stated that we must satisfyeach need in turn, starting with the first whichdeals with the most obvious needs for survival itself.Only when the lower order needs of physical andemotional well- being are satisfied then we areconcerned with the higher order needs of influenceand personal development. Conversely if the thingsthat satisfy our lower order needs are swept away,we are no longer concerned about the maintenanceof our higher order needs.

Therefore adopting this theory for this studyMaslow stipulated that if the students are wellmotivated by their daily needs most especially thelower needs, that is, the physical and emotionalneeds, the students in turn will perform very wellin their study. Therefore the lower order needs isprime and dominant for actualising the higherneeds. Once these needs are met, then students willimprove in their study. If the basic needs like food,school materials, school uniform among others aremet then students will be focused on their study,cooperate with their teachers and this in turn willserve as motivating factor to the teachers to useappropriate instructional materials and adopt asuitable teaching method to facilitating teachingand learning of mathematics.

The figure below show the hierarchy model.

Figure 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs


LITERATURE REVIEWThe review of relevant literature were done underthe following headings:

1. Concept of Teaching2. Concept of teaching methodology3. Effect of instructional materials in teaching

and learning mathematics in Nigeriasecondary schools.

CONCEPT OF TEACHINGTeaching, according to Smith and Laslett (1993) isan all-purpose profession engaged in human resourcedevelopment for individual and economic growth(Oyekan, 2004). Teaching has been defined as anattempt to help someone acquire or change, someskill, attitude, knowledge, idea or appreciation. Inother words, the teacher’s task is to create orinfluence desirable changes in behaviour, or intendencies toward behaviour in his students.

Oyekan explained further that in order to sayone has taught, some changes in student behaviourshould have taken place, when he says “a personmight as well say he has sold when no one hasbought and say he has taught and no one haslearned”. The goal of teaching is to bring about thedesired learning in the students .Therefore, the onlyvalid criterion of success. According to Ilogu (2005)in teaching is the degree to which the teacher hasbeen able to impart knowledge in his students.

CONCEPT OF TEACHING METHODOLOGY

There are many methods and techniques foreffective teaching. These different methods andtechniques should be used skillfully in the class bythe teachers in order to teach his studentseffectively. The skillful and competent teacher usesas many methods and techniques as possiblebecause, there is no single method which isregarded as the best for every teaching situationmost especially the teaching of mathematics insecondary schools. In a single lesson therefore, theteacher can employ as many methods as possible.The success of every method depends on the typeof the teacher and his professional experience inthe field of teaching.

Teaching methodology is a procedure by whicha goal is reached, a purpose accomplished or a resultachieved. Ilogu (2005) also defined teachingmethodology as a practical application of teachingprinciples based on the nature of learner, the natureof the subject and the learning needs of thestudents. He classified teaching into two namely;

1. Child-centered methods2. Teacher-centered methodsChild-centered methods include:– Activity methods– Assignment method– Supervised study– Discussion method– Field trip method– Project method– Play and games method etc.Of these methods may be applicable to both

individual and group approaches to teaching.However, some of the methods are more amenableto group than to individual approach and vice versa.The teacher centered methods as the name implies,means that the principal actor in the lesson is theteacher while the learners are passive listeners. Atthe end of the lesson, the learner may ask one ortwo questions or be required to answer somequestions or pass some comments or jot down somepoints. Teacher-centered methods are a clearnegation of the accepted view that learning is anactive rather than a passive process that the bestand most applicable learning is learning by doing.Examples of teacher- centered method as classifiedaccording to Ilogu (2005) are:

• Lecture methods• Questioning method• Demonstration method

EFFECT OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALSIN TEACHING AND LEARNING

MATHEMATIC IN NIGERIASECONDARY SCHOOL

Mathematics as a discipline help in laying a goodfoundation for future survival. Technologicaladvancement depends on Mathematics.Mathematics is a compulsory subject both at theprimary and secondary school levels (FederalRepublic of Nigeria 2004). Inability of students topass mathematics at credit level is a seriousproblem and this may serve as a barrier in furtheringthe education into the tertiary institution becauseit is a basic requirement for admission into somedegree courses in most tertiary institutions inNigeria. Esu (2006) noted that students’ general fearand hate mathematics; a situation which results inpoor performance in the subject.

Esu, Enukoha & Umoren (2006) attributedstudent’s poor performance in Mathematics to


factors such as: the notion among students thatmathematics is an abstract and difficult subject,inadequate qualified teachers to teach the subject,teacher’s methodology and instructional materialsused to facilitate the teaching itself was consideredas an important factor. This means that themastery of mathematics concepts might not be fullyachieved without the use of instructional materials.The teaching of mathematics without instructionalmaterials may certainly result in poor academicachievement and lack of interest by the students.Fraser , Okebukola and Jegede (1992) stressed thata professionally qualified science teacher no matterhow well trained, would unable to put his ideas intopractice if the school setting lacks the equipmentand materials necessary for him or her to translatehis competence into reality.

The goal of teaching mathematics, especially atthe primary level is to prepare pupils to developcritical and creative outlook as they confront thechallenges of daily life (Meremikwu 2008). Thus forthe teaching of mathematics to be meaningfulteaching must exist at the concrete operationallevel. By the nature of children, they need a largenumber of and variety of instructional resources tointeract with. Children at the primary level like toexplore, experiment, create and interact intensivelywith the environment. The use of numerous typesof instructional resources, therefore is to help increating an enabling environment for effectivelearning of the subject. The teaching ofmathematics required that the environment,instructional materials, and interactions withlearners be appropriate for teaching and learningto take place. This is perceived as responding tothe learners’ interest and needs. In every classroom,students need special attention and planning forthem to be able to meet up to the teachers’expectations.

Therefore, learning has to do with change inbehavior due to environmental and developmentalinfluences. For Ilogu (2005), learning is knowledgefacilitated through experiences within the schooland outside the school environments. Learning isseen as internal events that go inside the students’brain. The ability to create learning connectionsthrough the application of teacher-madeinstructional materials are the skills through whichchildren develop new combinations andrelationships in organizing ideas, symbols, objects,and words (Charles worth 1996).

Ordinarily, teacher-made instructionalmaterials create curiosity for the students who may

seize the opportunity to explore and create. Theseabilities to explore and create often tend toincrease the student’s knowledge and cognitivedevelopment.

Students’ learn a lot from their teachersthrough the process of applying instructionalmaterials Bello (1999) is of the opinion that theprovision and utilization of teacher-madeinstructional materials will promote the intellectualability of students’. Probably, this is becauseinstructional materials act as motivator to thestudent and will equally awaken their interest inthe teaching of mathematics.

Several studies have shown other indices thatcould affect students’ mathematics achievement.Stringfield and Teddie (1991), in their study of ruraleducation in the United States showed that classesand schools differ in terms of their learningenvironment and school resources. Okoyeocha(2005), in a comparative study of public and privateschools in 22 schools (11 public and 11 privateschools) in Nigeria found that public schools werebetter equipped than their private counterparts.The location of the school could also influence thelevel of academic achievement of pupils. Daramola(1985) showed that pupils in urban schoolsperformed significantly better than theircounterparts in rural schools.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Mathematics is a core subject in Nigerian secondaryschools as stated by curriculum planners and policymakers. To emphasize the importance of thissubject, students at all levels of education must offerit. This is to make student versatile, resourceful,and well-rounded for future life endeavours.Students at all levels of education regardmathematics as the most difficult subject. Thecomplexity of the subject and students’ beliefs aboutmathematics has become a serious concern forgovernment, curriculum planners, policy makersand other stakeholders in education. Okoli (2009)ascertained that secondary school students failedmathematics because of their belief thatmathematics is a difficult subject. However, thereis evidence in literature that students’ achievementin the subject over the years has been consistentlylow. The low achievement in mathematics has beentraced to poor method of teaching and ineffectiveusing of teaching materials in teachingmathematics. This belief system has registered instudents’ brain and gave them psychological andphysiological problem.


Okoli (2009) explained further that failing inmathematics is beyond belief, and thereforesubmitted that failure in mathematics was as aresult of some factors. He classified these factorsas lack of expertise, teachers’ experience, teachers’qualification, students’ attitude to mathematics,students’ background, class size, inadequateinstructional materials to facilitate teaching andlearning of mathematics, bad teachingmethodology, and teachers’ attitude, among others.The observed poor performance of students’ call forthis present study which sought to examine theeffect of instructional materials and teachingmethodology on mathematics achievement.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Three research questions guided this study:1. Would teaching methodology has effect on

Mathematics achievement amongsecondary school students in Lagos State?

2. Would the use of instructional materialshas effect on Mathematics achievementamong secondary school students in LagosState?

3. Would teachers’ attitude to the use ofinstructional materials has effect onMathematics achievement amongsecondary school students in Lagos State?

HYPOTHESESThe following null hypotheses were raised andtested in this study:

1. Teaching methodology has no significanteffect on Mathematics achievement amongsenior secondary school students in LagosState.

2. The use of instructional materials has nosignificant effect on Mathematicsachievement among secondary schoolstudents in Lagos State.

3. Teachers’ attitude to the usage ofinstructional materials has no significanteffect on Mathematics achievement amongsecondary school students in Lagos State.

METHODOLOGYThis section describes the procedure and methodsadopted in carrying out the research. It presents adescription of the research design, study area,population, sample and sampling procedure,instruments, validity and reliability, pilot study,methods of data collection and method of data

analysis. The design for this study was a descriptivesurvey research design. This is a design in whichthe researcher used a sample of questionnaire on asample of respondents to elicit information on thesubject matter.

The study was carried out in Lagos state. Lagosstate was created on May 27th 1976, with Ikeja asthe capital. It lies within Latitude 6.58N andLongitude 3.75E with an area of around 3,577square kilometers, Lagos state is made up of 20local government and 37 local council developmentareas, the estimated population of Lagos state is17.5 million. It is bordered by Ogun state and BeninRepublic.

The target population for this study comprisedall senior secondary schools in the six educationaldistricts in Lagos State. However, the accessiblepopulation comprised the Senior Secondary Schooltwo students (SS 2).

The participants for this study were randomlyselected from the six educational districts in Lagosstate. From each district the researcher selected 3secondary schools using Hat and drawn method. Atotal number of 18 secondary schools were selectedfor the study. From each school 40 students wereselected, this give a total of 120 students from eacheducational district. A total number of 720 studentswere used for the study.

Table 1Distribution of the Sample According to

Educational District

Educational Number Number Number Number ofDistrict of schools of students of male female

District 1 3 120 60 60District 2 3 120 60 60District 3 3 120 60 60District 4 3 120 60 60District 5 3 120 60 60District 6 3 120 60 60Total 18 720 360 360

Evidence from table 1 above showed that 6educational districts were selected for the study,from each educational districts the researcherselected three secondary schools of 40 respondents,and 120 respondents were used from eacheducational district. A total number of 720respondents were used for the study whichcomprises of 360 male and 360 female.

For the purpose of data collection three majorinstruments were used to obtain relevant data for


this study. These instruments were titled: Effect ofInstructional Materials on MathematicsAchievement (EIMMA), Effect of TeachingMethodology on Mathematics Achievement(ETMMA) and a Standardized Achievement Testin Mathematics (SATM). These instruments wereself- developed questionnaires.

1. Effect of Instructional Materials onMathematics Achievement (EIMMA): The Effectof Instructional Materials on MathematicsAchievement is a 4- Likert scale questionnaire of10 – item instrument. This is a self- developedquestionnaire designed to measure the availabilityand usage of instructional materials in teachingmathematics in senior secondary schools in Lagosstate. The response of each item was Strongly Agree(SA), Agree (A), Strongly Disagree (SD) andDisagree (D). Scoring of the instrument wasassigned 4,3,2,1 for positive items. The pointawarded in the reversed order for the negativeitems. The reliability coefficient was obtained usingtest re-test method. The reliability coefficientobtained was 0.76

Sample of the items include:1. My teacher uses appropriate instructional

materials that is suitable for each topic indelivering his/her lesson.

2. My teacher make use of internet facilitiesand e- learning mathematics text book indelivering his/her lesson.

3. My teacher uses projector and slides indelivering hjs/her lesson.

2. Effect of Teaching Methodology onMathematics Achievement (ETMMA): Effect ofTeaching Methodology on MathematicsAchievement is a 4- Likert scale questionnaire of10- items instrument designed to elicit informationon students on their teachers’ methodology inteaching mathematics in secondary schools in Lagosstate. The response of each item was Strongly Agree(SA), Agree (A), Strongly Disagree (SD) andDisagree (D). Scoring of the instrument wasassigned 4,3,2,1 for positive items. The pointawarded in the reversed order for the negativeitems. The reliability coefficient was obtained usingtest re-test method. The reliability coefficientobtained was 0.82

Sample of the items include:1. I attend mathematics class because of my

teachers’ method of teaching.2. My teacher always use diverse evaluation

techniques to assess his/her teaching.

3. My mathematics teacher is friendly andeasy to approach.

3. Standardized Achievement Test inMathematics (SATM): A standardize achievementtest in mathematics is a multiple choice of 10 itemswith option A- D. The items were selected fromWAEC past questions which is in line with thestudents scheme of work.

The instruments were subjected to a test ofcontent validity by submitting a copy of each to twoexperts in Measurement and Evaluation who aredoctorate degree holders, to criticize the items onthe instruments and by this determine the contentvalidity. The instrument was subjected to a test re-test reliability. The questionnaires and thestandardized achievement test in mathematicswere administered on a small sample to test runthe instruments. After a period of two weeks theresearcher re-administered the questionnaires andthe achievement test in mathematics on the samesample. The results obtained from the twoadministration were correlated using Pearsonproduct moment correlation. A correlationcoefficient of 0.76 and 0.82 were obtained whichshows that the instruments were all reliable.

A pilot study was carried out in Ajuwon highschool, Akute in Ifo local government area of Ogunstate which was outside the study area but havethe same characteristics as the main sample of thestudy. The main objective of the pilot study is totest run the instruments on the small samples toidentify problems that can threaten both theinternal and external validity of the study.

The researcher obtained a letter of introductionfrom Department of Education FoundationUniversity of Lagos. This letter was used to seekfor the permission of the principals of the secondaryschools where the questionnaires and thestandardized achievement test were administered.

The data collected were analysed using bothdescriptive and inferential statistics. The threehypotheses formulated were analysed usingPearson Product Moment Correlation.

RESULTS

Hypothesis one: Teaching methodology has nosignificant effect on mathematics achievementamong senior secondary school students in Lagosstate.

Evidence from table 2 shows that there isrelationship between teaching methodology andmathematics achievement test among secondaryschools students in Lagos state (r = 0.23, P < 0.05).


Therefore the null hypothesis stated is rejected. Thepositive relationship implies that teaching methodadopted by teachers have significant effect on theachievement of mathematics among seniorsecondary schools in Lagos state.

Hypothesis Two: The use of instructionalmaterials has no effect on Mathematicsachievement among secondary school students inLagos State.

Evidence from table 3 reveals that the use ofinstructional materials has significant effect onmathematics achievement(r = 0.27; P < 0.05).Therefore the null hypothesis is rejected. Thepositive relationship implies effective use ofinstructional materials have significant effect onthe achievement of mathematics among seniorsecondary school students in Lagos State.

Table 2Correlation output showing the effect of teaching methodology on mathematics achievement in

Lagos state secondary schools.

Variables N Mean SD Df r-cal Sig Remark

Teachers’ teaching methodology 720 30.10 4.65 718 0.23 0.05 *Mathematics achievement test 720 6.51 2.05

*significant

Table 3Correlation output showing the effect of instructional materials on mathematics achievement

among secondary schools students in Lagos State


Usage of instructional materials. 720 12.63 3.16 718 0.27 0.05 0.05Mathematics achievement test. 720 6.51 2.03

Hypothesis Three: Teachers’ attitude to theusage of instructional materials has no significanteffect on Mathematics achievement among seniorsecondary school students in Lagos State.

Table 4 reveals that there is a positiverelationship between teachers’ attitude to the usageof instructional materials and students

achievement test in mathematics amongsenior secondary schools students in Lagosstate. Therefore the null hypothesis rejectedmeans that teachers’ attitude to the usage ofinstructional materials has positive effect ofstudents’ academic achievement in mathematics (r= 0.34; P < 0.05).

Table 4Correlation output showing the effect of teachers’ attitude to the usage of instructional materials

on mathematics achievement in senior secondary schools in Lagos state.


Teachers’ attitude to the 720 15.5 2.37 718 0.34 0.05 *usage of instructional materials.Mathematics achievement test. 720 6.51 2.03

*significant

SUMMARY OF FINDINGSBased on the analyses and data interpretation, thefollowing are the findings of this study:

• Teaching methodology has significant effecton mathematics achievement among seniorsecondary schools in Lagos State.

• The use of instructional materials havesignificant effect on mathematics

achievement among senior secondaryschools in Lagos State.

• Teachers have positive attitude to the usageof Instructional materials and this in turnhave positive effect on mathematicsachievement among senior secondaryschools in Lagos State.


DISCUSSION

The findings reveals that methodology adopted byteachers have positive effect on mathematicsachievement among senior secondary schoolstudents in Lagos State. The finding is in line withthe submission of Ilogu (2005), who stated thatstudents learn in a variety of ways, and their abilityto assimilate information also varies. A students’capacity to learn is impacted by the teacher’s styleof conveying information, that is, the teachingmethod adopted by the teacher to facilitate thelearning processes.

The research conducted by Afe (2001) on theeffect of instructional materials and teachersmethod of teaching also supported this finding. Afeconcluded that instructional materials and teachingmethod have an important influence on students’academic achievement. The duo play a crucial rolein educational attainment because the teacher’smethod of teaching is ultimately responsible fortranslating policy into action and principles basedon practice during interaction with the students.

Wright, Horn and Sanders (1997) in theirstudies, concluded that the most important factorinfluencing students’ learning is the teachermethodology because it is the only avenue thatconvey learning.

The second finding of this study is that the useof instructional materials have positive effect onmathematics achievement among senior secondaryschool students in Lagos state. Teachers can makelearning of mathematics easier and interesting byusing appropriate and suitable learning materialsthat will facilitate the teaching and learning ofmathematics. The significance of instructionalmaterials in learning of mathematics cannot beoverlooked because the use of instructionalmaterials makes the learning of the subject realrather than being abstract and these contributeimmensely to the better performance of studentsin internal and external examination. The presentresult support the work of Afe (2001), Rivkin,Hanusheck and Kain (2005).

However the result of the finding also revealsthat positive attitude of teachers on the use ofinstructional materials have positive effect onmathematics achievement among senior secondaryschools students in Lagos State. Teachers’ role ineffective teaching is very important. A teachershould prepare for his/her teaching adequately andfully armed with suitable learning materials thatwill arose the interest on the learner and making

learning more meaningful. Teachers should preparefor the teaching and learning of mathematics insuch a way that it will meet the challenges ofstudents. The paramount objective of effectiveteaching is quality delivery of the subject matter.Therefore teachers should develop positive attitudetowards the use of instructional materials inteaching of mathematics at all levels.

CONCLUSIONThis study was concerned with effect ofinstructional materials and teaching methodologyon mathematics achievement among seniorsecondary school students in Lagos state. Adescriptive survey research design was used for thestudy. 720 students were randomly selected fromsix educational districts in Lagos State from 18senior secondary schools. Three research questionsand three hypotheses were formulated and testedat 0.05 level of significance. The results of the studyrevealed that method of teaching, use ofinstructional materials and teachers’ attitude toinstructional materials have positive effect onmathematics achievement among senior secondaryschool students in Lagos State.

Based on the findings of the study, theresearcher is recommending that:

• Lagos state should empower teachers bymandating it for them to undergo trainingprogrammes on the use of instructionalmaterials to the learning of mathematics.

• Government should provide adequatelearning materials to public secondaryschools and organise a monitoring teamthat will supervise teachers on the use ofinstructional materials.

• Stakeholders and other philanthropies inthe society should donate instructionalmaterials to secondary schools as this willgo a long way at improving the standard ofeducation.

• Teachers should be encouraged andeducated on the uses of e- learningmaterials and internet facilities in such away that they can use it to exploremathematics website.

• Teachers should learn how to use diversemethodology in their teaching rather thanrestrict themselves to a particular method.

• Teacher should learn how to improviseinstructional materials from the localenvironment instead of using foreign


materials that students are not familiarwith.

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