For science and technology to successfully achieve the goals of sustainable development in any country, there is a to engage creativity in science and mathematics education. Bajah(200) noted that no nation can make any meaningful progress in the information technology age, particularly in economic development without technology which has science and mathematics as its foundations. This is because the level of science, technology and mathematics education (STME) of any nation has been widely accepted to be indicative of tht nation's socio-economic and socio-political development.
Mathematics is one of the core subjects to be offered by all the students up til the tertiary levels of education (federal government of Nigeria 2013). This compulsory nature of mathematics carries with it the assumption that the knowledge of the subject is essential for all members of the society. In fact, mathematics competence is a critical determinant of the post-secondary education and career options available to young people (Okereke, 2006).
A mathematical game is one of the most potent means of increasing students' performance in mathematics. Dotun(2005) described mathematical games as activities in the form of puzzles, magic tricks, fallacies, paradoxes or any type of mathematics which provides amusement or curiosity and stimulates mathematical thinking, excitement and spirit of competition and co-operation. Many reasons abound for using mathematical games. The games help to reduce the level of abstraction involved in teaching and learning a concept in mathematics, capturing the learners' interest and providing for active participation of the students. Dotun (2005) further stressed that games do not only help in releasing tension and boredom in class but also provide an environment where the children can develop their individual and collective skills and acquire more knowledge.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Evidence of poor performance shown by researchers (Okereke 2006;WAEC, 2005-2009: NECO, 2006) points to the fact that the current method of teaching mathematics may not be exciting to the students. This has lead to students' lack of understanding of the concepts, functionality and application of mathematical ideas. The WAEC chief examiner reports (2012,2013&2016) stated how constituent reported that students dogde questions in trigonometry and an attempt is made;they show lack of understanding of the concepts in their workings. Based on the forgoing the researcher decided to use mathematical games in teaching trigonometry and observe their effect on students' performance.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the finding that Trigoludo game facilitate the teaching of trigonometry more than that of Trigoratio as it better enhanced the performance of students when compared to Trigoludo. The two games were gender friendly as they equally enhanced the performance of both male and female students.
RECOMMENDATION
Based on the result of this study, the following recommendations were made;
- Students should be taught using mathematical games as it simplifies the difficult concepts and increases the academic performance.
- Mathematics teachers should provide instructional activities like puzzles, Trigoludo, Trigoratio, card games before, within and after a Mathematical lessons in order to relate mathematics to enhance performance of students.
- Mathematics teachers should be trained on the use of mathematical games by the game developers so as to ensure that they grasp the tenets of mathematical games.
Thanks for reading
I remain your researcher @mfumid001
