Senior secondary school students in Nigeria continue to experience challenges in learning algebra, a core component of mathematics critical for advancement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Traditional lecture-based instruction often fails to support students’ conceptual understanding, highlighting the need for more cognitively grounded approaches. Ausubel’s Advance Organizers were introduced in this study as instructional tools designed to activate prior knowledge and promote meaningful learning. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design involving senior secondary school students from two public schools in Nigeria to investigate the effect of the strategy on students’ performance in algebra and to determine whether gender influenced the outcomes. Findings revealed that students taught with Advance Organizers performed better in algebra than those taught using conventional methods. Moreover, no significant gender differences were observed, suggesting that the strategy was equally effective for both male and female students. The study concludes that Advance Organizers can serve as an equitable and effective teaching approach for improving algebra learning among secondary school students. It further emphasizes the importance of context-responsive instructional practices in enhancing mathematics education across sub-Saharan Africa.
Ezumezuh et al. (Tue,) studied this question.