Effect of instructional media on students’ academic performance in mathematics in mount Masaba secondary, Mbale district Uganda

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of the use of instructional media on students’ academic performance in mathematics in Mount Masaba High Secondary in Mbale municipality. The study sought to discuss or address the following research hypothesis Using printed materials does not significantly enhance student’s academic performance in mathematics in Mount Masaba High secondary school,There is no statistically significant difference in academic performance between students who learn mathematics using realia and those who learn mathematics using traditional method (discussion), There is no statistically significant difference in academic performance between students using printed visuals in learning mathematics and those who use the traditional method (discussion) in learning mathematics. The study was conducted through randomized pretest posttest control group design which is the basis of all experimental design. In additionthe data was collected using mathematics competence based test (MCBT) from 60 students; the data collected was quantified into frequencies and independent sample t-test was computed by using SPSS software. The study established the types of instructional media used in this research which include: the printed materials (books), Realia and printed visuals (chart, and graphs,). The study found that there is strong effect between instructional media and student’s academic performance in mathematics, that the difference between the means for males and females was statistically significant at (t (df=58) =-5.143, p=0.000) for the printed materials and for the realia the difference between the means for males and females was statistically significant at (t (df=58)=-2.248, p=0.028) lastly for the printed visuals the difference between the means for males and females was statistically significant at (t (df=58)=-1.925, p= .049). This effect was statistically significant because all the results of the sig value (2-tailed) for the effect of printed materials was less than the fixed value alpha of 0.05 level of significant, Lastly the study concludes that there is strong effect of instructional media on student’s academic performance in mathematics in Mount Masaba High secondary school also the researcher recommends that: since it is impossible to denounce textbook and replace it with other instructional media, recommended that mathematics textbooks should be made available in the market at an affordable price so that each will lay his hand on it, the researcher also recommended that there is need for the teachers to use different instructional media in teaching mathematics which will improve student’s academic performance. The researcher also recommends that there is need for the teachers to be resourceful in materials selection and planning, also there is need to update teacher’s knowledge on how to use instructional media in teaching mathematics