Dienes Multibase Blocks' Approach an Effective Strategy for Improving Students' Interest in Number Bases among Secondary School Students in Mathematics

Abstract: This study was designed to investigate the effect of Dienes Blocks' Approach on students' interest in number bases. The study adopted non-equivalent control group quasi experimental design. The population of the study comprised all the JSS 3 students in all the junior secondary schools in Makurdi Metropolis in Benue State of Nigeria while the actual sample was 200 students from four single sex secondary schools. The instrument for data collection was Mathematics Interest Inventory on Number Bases (MIIONB), which was developed by the researchers. The reliability of MIIONB was established using Kudder-Richardson Formula 20(K-R 20 ) technique, which yielded a coefficient of 0.72. Mean was used to answer the research questions while ANCOVA was used to test the hypotheses. The result of the study showed that Dienes Blocks' Approach significantly enhanced students' interest in number bases (F 1, 199 = 71.499, p<0.05) where as gender was not a significant factor in students' interest in number bases (F 1, 199 = 0.020, p>0.05) even with the use of Dienes Block Approach. Similarly, there was significant interaction effect between method and gender on students' interest in number bases (F 1,199 = 4.820, p<0.05). The study recommended that mathematics teachers should teach mathematics concepts especially the abstract concepts using activity-based approach like Dienes Blocks' Approach