EFFECTS OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS AND RETENTION IN DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS IN UYO, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of Graphic Organizers and students' academic achievement and retention in differential calculus in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was adopted. The sample comprised 127 SS3 students randomly selected from two public secondary schools. Differential Calculus Achievement Test (DCAT), a 20-item multiple-choice instrument (reliability coefficient 0.84 via Kuder-Richardson 20), measured pretest achievement. A reshuffled version served as the posttest, and the Differential Calculus Retention Test (DCRT) assessed retention three weeks later. The experimental group received instruction using graphic organizers while the control group was taught using Expository teaching strategy. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 significance level was used to test the hypotheses. Results revealed significantly higher posttest achievement and retention mean scores for students taught with graphic organizers compared to the expository group. No significant gender differences were found in achievement or retention across strategies. The study concludes that graphic organizers enhance achievement and retention in differential calculus more effectively than expository teaching strategy. It was Recommended that teacher training on these strategies should be organized and further research on combined approaches in diverse contexts should be carried out.