Effect of Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach on Students’ Performance and Retention in Trigonometry in Rivers East Senatorial District, Rivers State, Nigeria

This study investigated the effect of the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach (CTCA) on students’ performance and retention in trigonometry among senior secondary school students in Rivers East Senatorial District, Nigeria. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design involving pretest, posttest, and post-posttest non-equivalent control groups. The population comprised 38,971 students offering mathematics in public Senior Secondary School Two (SS2) schools within Rivers East Senatorial District. A sample of 334 Senior Secondary School Two (SS2) students drawn from four public secondary schools participated in the study through a multistage sampling procedure. The instruments used for data collection were the Basic Trigonometry Test (BTT), Trigonometry Performance Test (TPT), and Trigonometry Retention Test (TRT). The reliability coefficients were established using the test–retest method, yielding 0.98 for BTT and 0.93 for TPT. Students in the experimental group were taught using the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach, while those in the control group were taught using the Cooperative Learning Method. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. In contrast, Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Independent Samples t-test were used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that students taught using CTCA performed significantly better and retained trigonometric concepts more effectively than those taught using the Cooperative Learning Method. The study concluded that CTCA is an effective instructional approach for improving students’ performance and retention in trigonometry. It was therefore recommended that mathematics teachers adopt CTCA in teaching trigonometry and other abstract mathematical concepts in secondary schools.