SOURCE:

Faculty: Education
Department: Educational Foundation

CONTRIBUTORS:

Beyoh D. Nkepah
Akudolu Lilian-Rita

ABSTRACT:

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of flipped and cooperative learning methods in enhancing students’ interest and achievement in mathematics. The study was carried out in Mezam Division of the North West Region of Cameroon and involved all Form Three students in English-speaking public secondary schools. Six research questions and eight hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance, provided focus to the study. The study adopted the 2×2 factorial pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design. Eighty-seven students (38 males and 49 females) drawn from a population of 5,348 students and grouped into two experimental groups, constituted the sample of this study. Using the multistage sampling procedure in three stages, the sample was arrived at through a combination of simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Two instruments: Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) and Mathematics Interest Inventory (MINTIV), consisting of 20 items each and validated by experts, were used in collecting data for the study. Mathematics video lessons and 16 lesson plans, eight for each of the groups, were also validated by experts and used as instructional tools. The Kudder-Richardson 20 (K-R 20) reliability of the MAT was found to be 0.73 while the Cronbach’s alpha reliability of the MINTIV was 0.84. Treatment lasted for six weeks. Mean was used to answer the research questions while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study showed among other things that: Flipped learning method was more effective in enhancing both students’ interest and achievement in mathematics when compared with the cooperative learning method. The flipped method further enhanced students’ interest significantly better than the cooperative method. In relation to gender, the cooperative method was more effective in minimizing gender inequality in achievement, compared to the flipped learning method which rather enhanced the achievement of female students significantly better than that of males. Based on the findings, it was recommended that both methods should be adopted as alternative methods in the teaching of mathematics in English-speaking secondary schools in Cameroon. Furthermore, if teachers desire to reduce gender inequality in achievement, then the cooperative learning method is recommended, but if they desire to improve students’ interest significantly, then the flipped learning method is recommended.