Abstract:
Conceptual understanding and attitudes have emerged in recent discoveries as the critical factors
contributing to the continued inertia in performance in the subject. This study sought to establish the
effect of Collaborative Concept Mapping teaching strategy on secondary school students’
development of affective domain. Specifically, the study sought to find out if there was any
difference in Students’ attitude toward Mathematics subject when taught using the Collaborative
Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy and the Conventional Methods of Instruction. The theoretical
framework is based on constructivist theory which views learners as active constructors of meaning
from input by processing it through existing cognitive structures and retaining it in the long-term
memory. This study used a Quasi-experimental Solomon Four-Fold research design. The sample
for the study comprised 161 forms three students and 4 teachers of mathematics from 4 randomly
selected sub-county co-educational secondary schools in the 4 sub-counties of Bomet County. The
four co-educational schools were randomly assigned into two experimental (E1 & E2) and two
control (C1 & C2) groups. Students in the experimental group were taught using Collaborative
Concept Mapping (CCM) Teaching Strategy for three weeks while the control group was taught
using Conventional Methods of Instruction. Students’ Attitude Towards Mathematics Questionnaire
(SATMQ) was used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis
which included frequencies, mean, t-test and ANOVA. All the statistical tests were subjected to a
test of significance at alpha (α) level of 0.05. The results revealed that there were statistically
significant difference attitudes towards mathematics in favour of CCM between students exposed to
Collaborative Concept Mapping teaching strategy and those taught using Conventional Method of
Instruction. From the findings it can be concluded that the attitude towards mathematics is marked
higher when the students are taught using the Collaborative Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy
than when the conventional method is employed. Based on the findings, recommendations were
made on the need for teachers to integrate Collaborative Concept Mapping Teaching Strategy
(CCM) teaching strategy in the mathematics instruction to foster positive attitude in the subject.
There is also need for teacher training institutions to incorporate CCM as one of the strategies in
mathematics instruction and that the serving teachers can be retooled to enable them to integrate
CCM teaching strategy effectively in Mathematics learning. Mathematics curriculum developers
need to restructure and integrate CCM among learner-centred strategies in Mathematics education.
