Effect of Mind Mapping on Gender Difference in Mathematics Achievement among Students in Public Secondary Schools in Nandi County, Kenya

Abstract

The teaching of mathematics still follows the traditional pattern which is identified to be ineffective and a factor responsible for the poor performance. The aim of this paper was to determine the effect of mind mapping in mathematics instruction on learner achievement, motivation and attitude in secondary schools in Nandi County, Kenya. The study used Quasi-experimental research design using pre-test and posttest. The target population for the study was 4761 form 2 students and 212 Mathematics teachers. The study adopted purposive sampling in selecting county schools followed by simple random sampling. Data was collected using Mathematics performance tests. Reliability was determined through test-retest approach and a reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained. Data was analyzed using mean, Standard error and t-test. The results showed that in both the pretest and posttest examinations, there was a significant difference in students’ performance when subjected to both mind mapping teaching strategy and the traditional methods of teaching mathematics since the p-values were less than 0.05. This shows that generally, the use of mind maps enhances students’ performance in mathematics but does not favour any gender. The study concluded that despite the difference in male and female student achievement in mathematics, greater difference was achieved when mind maps were used. It was recommended that the use of mind mapping need to be encouraged in teaching and learning owing to its positive effects on boosting students’ academic achievement.