Abstract

This study examined the Effects of discovery
method and gender on student’s academic achievement in Mathematics in Senior
Secondary Schools. The moderating effects of mathematics anxiety and gender
were also investigated. The study adopted the pretest-posttest, control group,
quasi experimental design with a 3x3x2 factorial matrix. The study sample
constitutes of Ten (10) secondary schools that Eight (8) are mixed schools, one
male and the other female school. Three hundred and thirty-seven senior
secondary students from these schools purposively selected participated in the
study. Four null hypotheses were tested at 0.05level of significance. Four
instruments were developed, validated and used for data collection. Data were analyzed
using Analysis of Covariance and Scheffe Post hoc test. The findings showed
that treatment had significant effect on students’ achievement in Mathematics
(F (2,318) =324.73, p<.05). Students exposed to TLIS had the highest post
achievement score. The study also revealed that Mathematics Anxiety (MA) had
significant effect on Students’ achievement in Mathematics (F
(3,333)=122.54,p<.05). Students with low MA had the highest post achievement
score. It also showed that gender had no significant effect on students’ achievement
in Mathematics. Furthermore, the result of the 3-way interactions showed a
significant interaction effects of treatment, mathematics anxiety and gender on
students’ achievement in Mathematics (F(18,318) = 2.063, p < 0.05). Among
the students in the TLIS group, those with low MA had highest post achievement
scores. It was concluded that Mathematics teachers should be trained to use
tiered lesson and group personalization learning packages in the classroom, since the
strategies are effective in enhancing students’ achievement in Mathematics than
the conventional method.