Effect of cooperative learning strategy on students’ retention in circle geometry in secondary schools in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of cooperative learning method compared with the conventional learning method in order to find out the retention level of students' in circle geometry. The study was carried out on senior secondary II students in the three education zones (Zone A, Zone B and Zone C) in Benue State, Nigeria. The ability of students to grasp and memorize a mathematical concept or topic that was taught has become a basic problem in secondary schools. These problems may arise due to inappropriate teaching methods being used to explain these topics. Hence, this study adopted the cooperative learning strategy to teach 358 senior secondary two (SSII) students circle geometry, and see how well the learning method may effectively improve on students' ability to retain concepts in mathematics in comparison to the conventional learning method of teaching. An independent T-test analysis was used to determine whether a statistical significant difference existed between the cooperative learning approach and the conventional learning approach in terms of students' retention of the taught concept (t (356) = 8.474, p= 0.001). The findings of the study confirmed that students who were subjected to the cooperative learning strategy were able to retain the concepts of circle geometry more than those students who were taught using the conventional learning approach. Hence the recommendations were that, students would be able to retain taught and learnt concepts in mathematics for a longer period of time if mathematics teachers applied the cooperative learning strategy in teaching.