Speaker
Description
Musa, N. U.
Yusuf Bala Usman College of Education and Legal Studies Daura
najibullahumar@gmail.com
Track: Digital Pedagogy and Teaching Innovation
This study investigated the effects of Blended Learning and Heuristic instructional approaches on secondary school students’ critical thinking skills in Geometry within Katsina Zonal Education Quality Assurance, Katsina State, Nigeria. The study adopted a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent control group design involving two experimental groups and one control group. The population comprised 5,455 SSII students in public secondary schools, while a sample of 222 students was selected through multistage sampling techniques. The instruments used for data collection was the Geometry Performance Test (GPT) which was validated by experts in the department of Mathematics Education. The instrument was then subjected to reliability test using test-retest method. The reliability index of 0.83 was obtained. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that students taught Geometry using Blended Learning obtained the highest post-test mean score (44.52 ± 5.95), followed by those taught using the Heuristic Approach (34.22 ± 8.12), while students taught using the Conventional Method recorded the lowest mean score (29.17 ± 4.98). ANCOVA results showed a significant effect of instructional strategy on students’ critical thinking skills (F(2,205) = 99.44, p < 0.001). Post hoc analysis further indicated that Blended Learning significantly outperformed both the Heuristic Approach and the Conventional Method, while the Heuristic Approach also produced significantly better outcomes than the Conventional Method. The study further found that gender had no significant influence on students’ critical thinking development under either Blended Learning (F(1,68) = 0.01, p = 0.904) or the Heuristic Approach (F(1,65) = 0.00, p = 0.984). The study concluded that Blended Learning is the most effective instructional strategy for enhancing students’ critical thinking skills in Geometry, while both Blended Learning and the Heuristic Approach are effective, inclusive, and gender-neutral teaching methods. The study recommends the integration of technology-enhanced and inquiry-based instructional approaches into mathematics classrooms to promote critical thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving skills among students.
Keywords: Blended Learning, Heuristic Approach, Critical Thinking, Geometry, Mathematics Education, Secondary School Students, Constructivist Learning Theory.