Effect of Instructional Scaffolding on Achievement of Secondary School Students in Mathematics

Abstract

The paper investigated the effect of instructional scaffolding on secondary school student’s achievement in Mathematics. The study adopted the quasi-experimental research type involving the use of pre-test and post-test in carrying out the study. A total of 120 senior secondary school students were randomly sampled from privately owned and government owed schools. The instrument for data collection was a researcher made 20-item objective test based of trigonometry tagged “Mathematics Scaffolding Achievement Test (MSAT)". The experiment group was taught mathematics using instructional scaffolding approach while the control group was taught using a non-scaffolding method. The data generated was analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study revealed that instructional scaffolding is effective in enhancing senior secondary school students’ achievement in mathematics, the study also revealed a significant difference between the mean score of private school students taught using the instructional scaffolding approach and public school students. Based on the result it was recommended thatmathematics teachers at secondary school level should apply instructional scaffolding approach in teaching to enhance students’ achievement. Also, government should facilitate workshops, seminars, and symposium to train teachers and enlighten them on the importance and use of instructional scaffolding approach in teaching mathematics.