Investigating effects of the use of active pedagogy on senior high school students’ achievement in logical reasoning in West Mamprusi district

Abstract

The present study investigated effects of the use of Active Pedagogy on Senior High School students’ achievement in logical reasoning in the West Mamprusi District (WMD) of the North East Region of Ghana. The study employed a Quasiexperimental design with pre-test post-test control groups design which involved a sample of three hundred and forty (340) students from the four Public Senior High Schools of the district, using convenience and purposive sampling techniques. Observation, Achievement Test and questionnaire were instruments used for data collection. The results from the data indicated that most mathematics teachers in the West Mamprusi District use traditional teaching method in their classrooms. Analysis of students’ pre-test scores of both treatment and control groups gave F(1,338)= .542 and p-value = .462 and 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒(𝜂2) = 0.077, which indicates that before the intervention, students from the control groups and the experimental groups were on the same level of achievement in logical reasoning. While the post test scores of both treatment and control groups gave F(1,338)= 15.131 and p-value = .000 and 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒(𝜂2) = 0.421, which showed that the active pedagogy teaching approach was significantly better than the traditional teaching approach in enhancing students’ achievement in logical reasoning. The researcher therefore recommended that the Curriculum Research Development Division (CRDD) of the Ghana Education Service in collaboration with the related agencies in the Ministry of Education should organize in-service training for SHS teachers on the effective implementation of Active Pedagogy.