Abstract:
This study was carried out to investigate the effects of teaching methods (Discovery
and lecture method), gender and school location on the performance of secondary
school students in mathematics. A proportionate random sample of 356 senior
secondary students was drawn from 20 secondary schools from Kano central senatorial
zone using Morgan and Krejcie (1970) table for determining sample size. The sample
was drawn from urban/rural dichotomy and gender wise. The sampled students were
put into two groups i.e. experimental and control group. Four different mathematics
topics were taught to both groups using discovery and lecture methods for
experimental and control group respectively. Pre-test and Post-test were administered
on both groups before and after treatment respectively. The results of the data collected
from their performance were analyzed using t-test statistic. The results of the study
revealed that experimental group performed better than the control group. The result
also showed that boys performed significantly better than girls and urban students
performed better than their rural counterpart. It was therefore recommended that
teachers should adopt the use of discovery method in teaching mathematics. Cultural
stigma which relegates female to mere housekeepers should be discouraged in our
society. Moreover government should come to the aid of schools mostly in rural areas
with necessary teaching materials to facilitate the teaching and learning activities.
