Effect of Interventional Strategies to Learn Geometry- A comparative study

Abstract

Mathematics is an excellent tool for developing mental discipline and for encouraging logical thinking and mental rigor. Statistics indicate that the difficulty of teaching and mastering mathematics, and geometry, in particular, has led to widespread test failure. Teachers utilize various instructional strategies to help students to focus their attention, for better comprehension and retention and to monitor and evaluate learning. The present study was done to examine the efficacy of two strategies in comparison with the with conventional (chalk and talk) method of teaching Geometry. The two experimental Intervention Strategies were (a) use of Power Point presentation (hereinafter termed as PPT) and use of Paper Folding. The study was done on one hundred and five (N=105) students of class VI in a rural Government Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore. The students were randomly assigned to three groups viz., two Experimental groups namely the (a)Power Point Group and (b) Paper Folding group (n=35) each and Conventional Group (hereinafter termed as Chalk and Talk Group, n=35) as the control group. Based on a test of Geometry, developed from the curriculum, the data was collected prior and after the Intervention for both the Groups (two Experimental groups and control). The results of descriptive statistics, Paired sample t -test and ANOVA showed that there was no significant improvement in learning Geometry in control Group whereas significant improvement in scores was found in the Paper Folding Intervention Group than the PPT Intervention Group. The comparison between the instructional strategies also showed that Paper Folding as the Instructional Strategy improved the scores in the evaluation test than the PPT and Chalk and Talk Method. The study concludes that Paper folding as an instructional strategy is highly recommended for teaching Geometry for Students of High School.