The Impact of Using the Interactive Multimedia Book on Mathematics Learning: A Focus on 7th Grade Students Performance

Abstract

Two experiments were developed to verify how the use of interactive multimedia books improves students’ school performance in 7th grade math learning. The aim of the study was to compare the performance of students using the Multimedia Interactive Book with non-students in 7th grade mathematics at a primary school in Mozambique, and was guided in two hypotheses. The null hypothesis was: the use of the interactive multimedia book in mathematics learning does not improve students’ performance and the alternative hypothesis was: the use of the interactive multimedia book in mathematics learning improves student’s performance. The learning object was developed from the free web tool Edilim and 44 students aged between 11 and 17 participated in the study. The first experiment had 20 hours of study while the second experiment was 60 hours of study, totalling 80 hours of study. To assess the participants’ cognitive development stage, the clinical method was used: operative tests of number, fluid and length preservation. The results of both experiments indicate that the use of the interactive multimedia book does not improve students’ performance in math learning, corroborating with studies and theses that warn that the use of computers and multimedia resources does not improve students’ performance in math learning.