Effects of Mastery Learning Strategy on Mathematical Competence among Secondary School Students in Kenya

Despite the fact that Mathematics is considered as a vital subject that supports the development of critical and logical thinking., majority of students across the world dislike mathematics and stay away from many careers related to Mathematics. The students’ lack of interest for mathematics could be attributed to poor quality of instruction and the instructional method deployed but not lack of ability to learn. The purpose of the study was to establish the effect of Mastery Learning Strategy on Mathematical Competence among Secondary School Students in Machakos Sub-County Kenya. The objective of the study was to investigate the impact of mastery learning strategy on improving the students’ mathematical competencies. To achieve the objective a sample of one hundred and fifty four (154) form two students from two schools were randomly placed into either the group taught by using Mastery Learning Strategy (MLS), the experimental group or those taught using Conventional Group Learning (CGL), the control group. The two groups were subjected to a competence test before and after the intervention of MLS. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test whether the two groups’ level of competence test achievement in Mathematics, differed significantly at significance level. The analysis of variance indicated that the mean score difference was significant at as evident by the Fishers ratio and p-value of F=12.334>F0.05,1,152=3.90 and ( Pr⠡= 0.023