Abstract

• The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of activity-based approaches on mathematics learning at the middle school level. A quantitative research study was used to compare the students who were taught by activity-based approaches and those who were taught by traditional approach. The design adopted in this study was the pretest-posttest control group design. Two sample schools, No. (2) BEMS, Dawbon and BEMS (Branch) Nyaung Thone Pin, Thanlyin were selected by using a simple random sampling method. The subjects were (60) Grade Seven students from each school. Learning materials were selected from Grade Seven Textbook: Chapters (12), (13) and (14) from Mathematics Textbook Vol-I and Chapters (5) and (6) from Mathematics Textbook Vol-II. To establish the reliability of the instrument, a pilot study was conducted with (30) Grade Seven students from No, (2) BEHS, Thingangyun. To show the internal consistency of the test, the reliability coefficient, Cronbach’s alpha, was computed. The independent samples t-test was used to compare the differences between the two groups. The results showed that the students who received a treatment by activity-based approaches demonstrated significantly better than the students who received traditional approach in Basic Education Middle School (t = 10.268, p < .001), and in Basic Education Middle School (Branch) (t = 6.831, p < .001). Research findings revealed that teaching by activity-based approaches had a positive contribution to the improvement of mathematics teaching methods. It was concluded that teaching by activity-based approaches was effective in raising the student’s mathematics achievement at the middle school level.