Effect of Hands-on Activities on Numeracy Achievement in Mathematics among Public Primary School Pupils in Itu Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study examined the effect of hands-on activities on the numeracy achievement of ECC II pupils in public primary schools in Itu Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest non-equivalent control group design was adopted. The sample comprised 152 pupils in six intact classes from six randomly selected schools; the experimental group (n = 72) received six weeks of hands-on numeracy instruction, while the control group (n = 80) was taught by the conventional method. Data were collected with a researcher-developed Numeracy Achievement Test (NAT; KR-20 = 0.80). Means and standard deviations answered the research questions, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) tested the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. Pupils taught with hands-on activities significantly outperformed those taught conventionally in counting (mean gains of 5.47 against 0.68) and in addition (5.64 against 0.64), p < .001. Among pupils who received the treatment, school location (urban versus rural) made no significant difference to numeracy achievement (p = .527). Hands-on activities are therefore an effective strategy for early numeracy in both settings. Teachers should integrate hands-on activities and manipulatives into numeracy lessons, and education authorities should provide instructional materials and in-service training for their use.