DIMENSIONS OF CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION AS PREDICTORS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22443662Keywords:
Classroom Participation, Mathematics Achievement, Cognitive Participation, Behavioural Participation, Secondary School, StudentsAbstract
Weak performance in mathematics has remained a stubborn problem in Nigerian secondary schools, and part of the explanation may lie in the way learners take part in the mathematics lesson. This study examined behavioural, cognitive, emotional and social participation as predictors of senior secondary school students’ academic achievement in mathematics in Anambra State. The work followed a predictive correlational design. A sample of 800 senior secondary two students was drawn from a population of 17,345 through a multi-stage procedure. Classroom participation was measured with the Students’ Classroom Participation Scale, which returned a reliability coefficient of 0.75, while achievement was taken from students’ moderated termly examination records. Simple and multiple regression answered the research questions and tested the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. Every dimension predicted achievement significantly. Cognitive participation carried the largest single share at about 26 per cent, followed by emotional and then social participation, while behavioural participation carried the least at about 18 per cent. Taken together, the four dimensions explained 43 per cent of the variation in achievement. The study concluded that classroom participation predicts mathematics achievement, and recommended that teaching give greater room to the thinking side of participation.
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