Effect of Immediate Feedback on the Mathematics Achievement of Low Achieving Senior Secondary School Students

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of immediate feedback on the mathematics achievement of low achieving senior secondary school students in Owerri educational zone II of Imo State, Nigeria. The influence of gender on mathematics achievement was also explored. The interaction effect of immediate feedback and gender on mathematics achievement was examined. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was a quasi- experimental non equivalent pretest–posttest control group design involving one experimental group and one control group. The population of the study was made up of 2,314 low achieving SSII students. The sample size consisted of 145 identified low mathematics achieving students drawn from two schools. The two schools were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. One research instrument: Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT). The instrument was validated by experts and used for data collection after the instruments was trial tested and found reliable using Kuder Richardson (KR20). Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The study revealed that instructing low achieving students using immediate feedback strategy has a significant effect on their mathematics achievement. There is no significant difference in the mean mathematics achievement scores of male and female low achieving students exposed to immediate feedback strategy. The interaction effect of immediate feedback and gender on mathematics achievement of low achieving students was not statistically significant. The interaction effect of immediate feedback and gender on mathematics achievement of low achieving students was not significant. Based on these findings, conclusions were drawn and the educational implications were also discussed. It was recommended that students should be exposed to immediate feedback during mathematics teaching and learning interactions, so that they will participate actively and achieve highly. Immediate feedback strategy will enable low achieving students to learn, retain and recall concepts, ideas and principles. Immediate feedback should be incorporated into teacher education programmes to educate the prospective teachers on how to use the strategy.