75
ASEAN Journal of Science and Engineering Education 5.
75-90 ASEAN Journal of Science and Engineering Education Journal homepage: http://ejournal.
edu/index.
php/AJSEE/ Reducing Mathematics Anxiety through SmartphoneAssisted Jigsaw Cooperative Learning among Senior High School Students Adeneye Olarewaju A.
Awofala*.
Felicia O.
Johnson.
Sabainah Oyebola Akinoso University of Lagos.
Nigeria Correspondence: E-mail: aawofala@unilag.
ABSTRACT
Mathematics anxiety continues to hinder students' performance and engagement, often resulting in poor learning outcomes.
This study investigated the effect of a smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy on the mathematics anxiety of senior high school students in Lagos State.
Nigeria.
Using a pretest-posttest quasiexperimental design with non-equivalent control groups, a total of 534 students were selected from two co-educational public schools.
Instruments used included the Mathematics Anxiety Questionnaire (MAQ) and the Smartphone Efficacy Questionnaire (SEQ), with treatment delivered via the Roducate Educational App.
Results revealed a reduction in mathematics anxiety among students exposed to the smartphone-assisted strategy compared to those taught using traditional methods.
Although the decline was not statistically significant, trends showed the strategy favored male students and those with low smartphone efficacy.
The findings suggest that technology-enhanced cooperative learning can support anxiety reduction and educational Further research is recommended to explore longterm and broader impacts.
A 2025 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
ARTICLE INFO
Article History:
Submitted/Received 10 Jan 2025
First Revised 28 Feb 2025
Accepted 27 Apr 2025
First Available online 28 Apr 2025
Publication Date 01 Sep 2025
____________________
Keyword:
Cooperative learning.
Jigsaw.
Mathematics anxiety.
Senior high school.
Smartphone-assisted.
Traditional method.
Awofala et al.
Reducing Mathematics Anxiety through Smartphone-Assisted Jigsaw Cooperative A | 76
INTRODUCTION
Mathematics anxiety refers to a feeling of fear and tension when faced with mathematical It can also be described as a state of discomfort caused by performing mathematical tasks.
Some researchers (Mammarella et al.
, 2.
described mathematical anxiety as a feeling of unease and heightened physiological reactivity when people engage with mathematics.
Mathematics anxiety has been found by scholars (Awofala & Esealuka.
Awofala, 2019.
Awofala, 2020.
Awofala et al.
, 2017.
Awofala & Lawal,2019.
Awofala & Akinoso, 2017.
Awofala & Odogwu, 2017.
Sopekan & Awofala, 2.
to interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems thereby directly and indirectly influencing students' achievement or performance in mathematics.
Studies have considered mathematics anxiety to be one of the many factors responsible for students' poor performance in mathematics (Awofala & Ogunsanya, 2025.
Adebiyi et ,2024.
Awofala et al.
, 2024.
Awofala & Akinoso, 2017.
Awofala & Odogwu, 2017.
Salman et , 2012.
Shaikh, 2013.
Udonsa, 2015.
Salahot, 2.
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA, 2.
found that a high percentage of secondary school students worry about mathematics and are in tension when doing mathematics homework (Commodari & La Rosa, 2.
Some researchers (Gunderson et al.
, 2.
found mathematics anxiety to be a highly prevalent phenomenon among elementary school students.
Other researchers (James et al.
, 2.
found that a higher percentage of students had moderate mathematics anxiety.
Some researchers (Beilock & Willingham, 2.
estimated that 25% of 4-year college students and up to 80% of community college students suffer from a moderate to high degree of mathematics anxiety.
Furthermore, numerous studies (Awofala & Akinoso, 2017.
Awofala & Odogwu, 2017.
Awofala et al.
, 2024.
Richlan et al.
, 2020.
Mutegi et al, 2.
have found a negative relationship or correlation between mathematics anxiety and achievement or performance in mathematics.
Some studies have found a significant relationship between mathematics anxiety, fear of COVID-19, depression from COVID-19, smartphone addiction, and nomophobia (Awofala et al.
, 2025.
Adebiyi et al.
, 2.
Consequently, mathematics anxiety has been a topic of continuous research among scholars because of its predominance among students and its detrimental effect on studentsAo mathematics performance or In addition, studies (Toropova et al.
, 2019.
Zavareh et al.
, 2.
have shown that studentsAo mathematics anxiety can increase due to the choice of teaching method adopted by the Some researchers (Atoyebi & Atoyebi, 2.
also concluded that there exists a relationship between the teaching strategy used in mathematics classrooms and studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
However, in order to reduce studentsAo mathematics anxiety, a menace that has persistently hampered studentsAo ability to learn mathematics, teaching methods that encourage studentsAo participation, collaboration, interaction, and problem solving in the learning process should be adopted (Kamran, 2.
One of such teaching methods is cooperative learning.
Studies (Zavareh et al.
, 2011.
Moliner & Alegre, 2.
have identified cooperative learning strategy as a teaching strategy effective for reducing studentsAo mathematics anxiety and improving studentsAo achievement in the subject.
In today's information age, the growth of technology and its inclusion in the education system guide educators in the exploration of new teaching methods that can be used in the classroom as an alternative to teacher-directed techniques.
More so, the increased availability of smartphones among senior secondary school students has become a concern to educational stakeholders who continually seek ways of making the teaching and learning environment interesting and adaptable to 21st-century learners who are technology-driven.
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, 2.
noted that integrating smartphones with effective teaching and learning strategies is necessary for improved learning achievement.
In line with this, numerous studies (Ozer & Kilic, 2018.
Fakomogbon & Bolaji, 2017.
Each & Suppasetseree, 2021.
Johnson & Lawal, 2.
have ascertained the effectiveness of the use of smartphones in a collaborative or cooperative learning environment on studentsAo academic achievement and specifically mathematics achievement.
However, there is a dearth of research on the effectiveness of the use of smartphones in a cooperative learning environment on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
Gender and smartphone efficacy are included in this study as moderator variables.
Gender difference in mathematics anxiety is a continuous field of study since results have been inconclusive (Wang et al.
, 2.
Some researchers (Hills et al.
, 2.
found that girls exhibited higher mathematics anxiety at the primary and secondary levels of education.
Some researchers (Van Mier et al.
, 2.
found that boys and girls showed approximately equal levels of mathematics anxiety.
Some researchers (Amam et al.
, 2.
found no difference in the mean mathematics anxiety of students by gender.
Some researchers (Asikhia, 2.
found a significant effect of gender on studentsAo anxiety in mathematics.
These contradicting findings further buttress the inclusion of gender as a moderator variable in this study.
The other variable moderating in the study is smartphone efficacy.
Smartphone efficacy refers to the judgment of oneAos capability to use smartphones or the level of confidence a user has when confronted with the use of smartphones.
Smartphone efficacy is included as a moderator variable because students must have a high level of confidence in using mobile technology as part of the teaching and learning process before the use of smartphones in teaching and learning can be successful (Mahat et al.
, 2.
Students experience high selfefficacy in mobile learning, but no significant difference in male and female studentsAo mobile efficacy (Yang, 2.
Studies on smartphone efficacy have been limited (Aminuddin et al.
As such, there is a dearth of research findings on the influence of smartphone efficacy on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
This study, therefore, sought to investigate the effect of smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning on the mathematics anxiety of senior secondary school students in Lagos State.
Nigeria.
The influence of the moderating variables of gender and smartphone efficacy was also considered in the study.
The following research questions guided the study:
What is the difference in the mathematical anxiety of senior high school students taught mathematics in a smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning environment and those taught in the traditional learning environment? .
What is the influence of gender on studentsAo mathematics anxiety? .
What is the influence of smartphone efficacy on studentsAo mathematics anxiety? .
What is the effect of treatment and gender interaction on studentsAo mathematics .
What is the influence of the treatment on the mathematics anxiety of students with high and low smartphone efficacy? .
What is the difference in the mathematical anxiety of male and female students with high and low smartphone efficacy? .
What is the influence of treatment, gender, and smartphone efficacy interaction on studentsAo mathematics anxiety? The following null hypotheses were tested at a 5% level of significance:
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Reducing Mathematics Anxiety through Smartphone-Assisted Jigsaw Cooperative A | 78 .
There is no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety of students taught mathematics in a smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning environment and those taught in the traditional learning environment .
There is no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety of male and female students .
There is no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety scores of students with high and low smartphone efficacy.
There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
There is no significant influence of the treatment on mathematics anxiety of students with high and low smartphone efficacy.
There is no significant difference in the mathematical anxiety of male and female students with high and low smartphone efficacy.
There is no significant influence of treatment, gender, and smartphone efficacy interaction on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
METHODS
Research Design and Participants Quasi-experimental research design of non Aenon-equivalent, pretest, posttest, and control group was used in the study.
534 second-year mathematics students from four intact classes of 2 senior high schools in Educational District IV of Lagos State.
Nigeria, served as participants for the study.
The schools were selected purposively based on the following criteria:
School ownership .
Gender composition .
o-educationa.
Availability of smartphones to students .
tudents of selected schools within the district provided with smartphones by the governmen.
The schools were assigned randomly to the experimental group .
martphone-assisted jigsa.
and the control group .
raditional metho.
using a simple random sampling technique.
The experimental group was taught using a smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy while the control group was exposed to the traditional method of teaching for 8 Data were collected through the mathematics anxiety questionnaire (MAQ) and the smartphone efficacy questionnaire (SEQ), while smartphone smartphone-assisted learning package (SALP) served as the treatment instrument for the experimental group.
2 Instrument for Data Collection Mathematics Anxiety Questionnaire (MAQ): The MAQ is a 15Aeitem Likert-type instrument designed to measure studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
The instrument was adapted from the mathematics self-efficacy and anxiety questionnaire (MSEAQ).
All statements of MAQ were taken and slightly adapted from the MSEAQ items 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 14, 15, 17, 18, 22, 24, 25, 26, and 27.
The MAQ consists of 2 parts.
Part A consists of the studentsAo profiles: school, class, and gender of the student.
Part B is made up of the adapted 15 items from the MSEAQ.
Each item of the MAQ is rated on a 5-point modified Likert scale ranging from never = 1, seldom = 2, sometimes = 3, often = 4 to usually = 5.
Smartphone Efficacy Questionnaire (SEQ): The smartphone efficacy questionnaire (SEQ) is a 9-item Likert-type instrument designed to measure studentsAo self-efficacy on mobile The instrument was adopted from the 25-item questionnaire on AupupilsAo attitude and self-efficacy of using mobile devicesAy by rewriting the term AuPDAAy as Aumobile deviceAy (Nikolopoulou & Gialamas, 2.
The 9 items were adopted from items 17-25 of the AupupilsAo attitude & self-efficacy of using mobile devicesAy questionnaire.
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Disagree .
Undecided .
Agree .
, to Strongly Agree .
SALP or the Roducate Educational App was the treatment instrument used in the smartphone-assisted Jigsaw experimental group.
The package contains subjects or topics that students encounter at the senior high school level.
The main menu of the package consists of lectures, mock exams, tasks, and tutorial videos.
3 Procedure for Data Collection Students who participated in the study were trained by an officer from the district on how to use the smartphone and, more importantly, how to make use of the Roducate App, which was used in the experimental group.
The teacher and research assistant who participated in the study .
specially in the treatment grou.
were trained in combining the SALP .
he Roducate Ap.
with Jigsaw cooperative learning.
The treatment period for all groups covered 10 weeks.
Students in the experimental group were heterogeneously divided into groups.
the beginning of the study, the MAQ and SEQ were administered to students in the sampled schools as pre-treatment questionnaires during the first week of the treatment to ascertain their level of mathematics anxiety before commencement of treatment.
During the 8 weeks of the treatment, students in the experimental group were exposed to the use of smartphoneassisted cooperative learning as treatment, while students in the control group were exposed to the traditional teaching method.
Immediately after the treatment, the MAQ was again administered as a post-treatment questionnaire.
Instructional procedure for the smartphone-assisted jigsaw In its implementation, smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning applies the following 7 steps.
Step 1: Students were divided into small heterogeneous groups called home groups, with 3 members in each group.
Each member is then assigned a number/alphabet .
ay 1, 2, 3 or a, b, .
based on their ability level.
Step 2: The teacher introduces the topic for the lesson and states the objectives to be achieved by the end of the 80-minute lesson.
Step 3: Students are assigned a specific objective, or segment of the lesson, according to the number given to them in step 1.
Step 4: students assigned to the same objective or segment of the lesson come together to form an Auexpert groupAy where they learn and solve 1 or 2 exercises on the segment assigned .
sing the SALP/ Roducate Ap.
while the teacher and research assistant move round to ensure that students are on track with what is being learnt and also ensure class .
Step 5: students return to their home groups and discuss/explain .
sing the lessons or videos on the SALP/ Roducate App as directed by the teache.
what is learnt in the Auexpert groupAy to the other members of their home groups in a bid to ensure that all members master the content of the lesson.
Step 6: Students as a group attempted the class exercise and submitted only one sheet after reaching a consensus.
Step 7: Students take individual tests at the end of a topic, which is marked by the teacher/research assistant.
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Thereafter, the MAQ instrument was re-administered on the 10th week.
Traditional method This strategy was characterized by the teacher solving all the theoretical or numerical problems on the board while the students learn by listening and copying the solved problems in their notebooks.
There was minimal interaction between the teacher and the students.
Data Analysis This strategy was characterized by the teacher solving all the theoretical or numerical problems on the board while the students learn by listening and copying the solved problems in their notebooks.
There was minimal interaction between the teacher and the students.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Research Question 1 What is the difference in the mathematical anxiety of senior high school students taught mathematics in a smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning environment and those taught in the traditional learning environment?.
From Table 1, the mathematics anxiety mean score of students taught mathematics using smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning 89 with a standard deviation of 11.
64 after the treatment, as against their mean anxiety score of 51.
43 with a standard deviation of 11.
46 before the treatment.
Also, students exposed to the traditional method had a mathematics anxiety mean score of 48.
64 with a standard deviation of 11.
86 after the treatment, as against their mean anxiety score of 48.
with a standard deviation of 12.
04 before the treatment.
The mean difference of -3.
54 and 38 for the two groups, respectively, indicates that students exposed to the smartphoneassisted jigsaw had a 6.
89% decline in mathematics anxiety while their counterparts in the control group had an increase of 0.
79% in mathematics anxiety mean score.
Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of mathematics anxiety scores of students in the treatment Treatment Smartphoneassisted jigsaw Traditional Total Pre-treatment Post-treatment Mean Mean Mean % gain or loss Research Question 2 What is the difference in the mathematics anxiety score of students with high and low smartphone efficacy?.
Table 2 revealed that male students had a decline in mean anxiety score from 50.
64 to 48.
63, indicating a mean loss of 2.
01, which represents 3.
97%, while their female colleagues had a decline in mathematics anxiety from 48.
24 to 47.
64, indicating a mean loss of 0.
24%).
This implies that male students had a greater decline in mathematics anxiety than their female counterparts.
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Table 3 indicates that students with high smartphone efficacy had a lower post-treatment mathematics anxiety mean score, showing a regression from a mean of 20 to 48.
ean difference -1.
while their counterparts with low smartphone efficacy regressed from 49.
10 to 47.
ean difference = -1.
The above suggests that students with low smartphone efficacy had a higher decline in their mathematics anxiety .
48%) while their colleagues with high smartphone efficacy had a mean anxiety loss of 2.
Table 2.
Descriptive statistics of the mathematics anxiety scores of male and female Gender Male Female Pre-treatment Mean Post-treatment Mean Mean % gain or Table 3.
Descriptive statistics of the mathematics anxiety scores of students with high and low smartphone efficacy.
Smartphone High Low Pre-treatment Mean Post-treatment Mean Mean % gain or Research Question 4 What is the effect of treatment and gender interaction on studentsAo mathematics anxiety?.
The interaction of treatment and gender under the smartphone-assisted jigsaw group, as presented in Table 4, resulted in a mean anxiety loss of 4.
01 among male students, signifying 74% loss in mathematics anxiety, whereas female students in the same group declined by 05 .
08%).
In the control group, male students recorded a mean anxiety gain of 0.
51%), but their female counterparts featured a 0.
20%) gain in mean anxiety score.
The smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy resulted in a fall in studentsAo mathematics anxiety, with male students having the greatest decline, followed by their female colleagues, while the traditional method increased mathematics anxiety mean score, with the female students having a higher percentage increase when compared with the male counterparts in the same group.
Research Question 5 What is the effect of the treatment on the mathematics anxiety of students with high and low smartphone efficacy?.
From Table 5, students in the traditional group with low smartphone efficacy recorded a higher increase in mathematics anxiety mean score .
rom 20 to 47.
29%, while their colleagues with high smartphone efficacy had a mathematics anxiety gain of 0.
Interestingly, the highest decline .
12%) in mathematics anxiety mean score was recorded under the smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning group of students with low smartphone efficacy, and this is followed by their counterparts with high smartphone efficacy .
25%).
It appears that smartphone efficacy has a great effect on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
However, the effect was positive in the smartphoneassisted jigsaw group while in the control group, it was negative.
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Reducing Mathematics Anxiety through Smartphone-Assisted Jigsaw Cooperative A | 82 Table 4.
Descriptive statistics of treatment and gender interaction on mathematics anxiety of students.
Treatment Gender Smartphoneassisted jigsaw Traditional Male Female Male Female Pre-treatment Mean Post-treatment Mean Mean % gain or loss Table 5.
Descriptive statistics of treatment and smartphone efficacy interaction on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
Treatment Smartphoneassisted jigsaw Traditional Smartphone High Low High Low Pre-treatment Mean Post-treatment Mean Mean % gain or loss Research Question 6 What is the difference in the mathematical anxiety of male and female students with high and low smartphone efficacy?.
As presented in Table 6, the interaction of gender and smartphone efficacy shows that male students with low smartphone efficacy had a marginal loss of 2.
99, signifying a 5.
89% loss in studentsAo mathematics anxiety, while their counterpart with high smartphone efficacy had a marginal loss of 1.
44 indicating 2.
85% loss in mathematics anxiety.
Also, female students with high smartphone efficacy had a decline in mathematics anxiety mean score from 49.
45 to 48.
23, indicating a percentage mean anxiety loss of 2.
However, female students with low smartphone efficacy had a slight increase in their mathematics anxiety mean score from 46.
59 to 46.
ean difference = 0.
26, indicating an anxiety gain of 0.
56%).
Table 6.
Descriptive statistics of gender and smartphone efficacy interaction on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
Gender Male Female Smartphone High Low High Low Pre-treatment Mean Post-treatment Mean Mean % gain or loss Research Question 7 What is the influence of the three-way interaction effect on studentsAo mathematics The three-way interaction effect of treatment, gender, and smartphone efficacy on studentsAo mathematics anxiety is presented in Table 7.
Analysis reveals that male students with low smartphone efficacy exposed to the smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning had the highest .
14%) decline in mathematics anxiety.
This is distantly followed by high-level smartphone efficacy males in the same group, with a percentage decline of 75%, and high-level smartphone efficacy females also in the same group, with a decline of On the contrary, students exposed to the traditional method had a slight increase in DOI: http://dx.
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The result of the analysis of the research hypotheses is shown in Table 8 Table 7.
Descriptive statistics of the three-way interaction of treatment, gender, and smartphone efficacy interaction on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
Treatment Gender Smartphoneassisted Male Female Traditional Male Female Phone High Low High Low High Low High Low Pre-treatment Mean SD Post-treatment Mean Mean % gain or Hypothesis one There is no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety of students taught mathematics in a smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning environment and those taught in the traditional learning environment.
Table 8 shows the calculated value of F .
for the effect of smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning anxiety on senior secondary school students had an associated probability ratio of 0.
Since the probability value of 272 is greater than the 0.
05 level of significance, the null hypothesis is accepted.
This implies that there is no significant difference in the mean score of the studentsAo mathematics anxiety when exposed to smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning and when exposed to the traditional learning environment.
Table 8.
Result of ANCOVA on the effect of treatment, gender, and smartphone efficacy on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
Source Type i Sum
of Squares Corrected Model
Intercept
COVARIATE
TREATMENT
GENDER
PHONEEFFICACY
TREATMENT * GENDER
TREATMENT
PHONEEFFICACY
GENDER * PHONEEFFICACY
TREATMENT * GENDER *
PHONEEFFICACY
Error Total Corrected Total R Squared = .
044 (Adjusted R Squared = .
Mean Square Sig.
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Reducing Mathematics Anxiety through Smartphone-Assisted Jigsaw Cooperative A | 84 Hypothesis two There is no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety of male and female students.
ANCOVA analysis as presented in Table 8 specifies the effect of gender on mathematics anxiety as F .
= 0.
254, p = 0.
614, which is statistically insignificant at 0.
This implies that gender does not bring about a significant difference in studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
Therefore, the null hypothesis, which says there is no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety scores of male and female students, was accepted.
Hypothesis three There is no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety scores of students with high and low smartphone efficacy.
Table 8 revealed F .
= 1.
240, p = 0.
266 > 0.
05 as the effect of smartphone efficacy on senior secondary school studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
This implies that smartphone efficacy does not account for a significant effect on mathematics Therefore, the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety score of students with high and low smartphone efficacy was accepted.
Hypothesis four There is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
On the interaction of treatment and gender on the mathematics anxiety of students.
Table 8 revealed that F .
= 0.
962, p = 0.
327, which is not significant since p > 0.
This is an expression of the fact that the treatment practically had the same effect whether a student was male or female, thereby eradicating gender influence.
Hypothesis five There is no significant influence of the treatment on mathematics anxiety of students with high and low smartphone efficacy.
ANCOVA analysis of treatment and smartphone efficacy interaction in Table 8 showed that F .
= 0.
155, p = 0.
With p > 0.
05, studentsAo mathematics anxiety did not respond to the treatment based on studentsAo smartphone efficacy, whether high or low.
The treatment, therefore, does not favour students with high smartphone efficacy differently from their counterparts with low smartphone efficacy.
Partial eta squared expressly specified zero effect for the influence of the treatment on the mathematics anxiety of students with high and low smartphone efficacy.
Thus, the null hypothesis is accepted.
Hypothesis six There is no significant difference in the mathematical anxiety of male and female students with high and low smartphone efficacy.
ANCOVA analysis of gender and smartphone efficacy interaction in Table 8 showed that F .
= 0.
027, p = 0.
With p > 0.
05, studentsAo mathematics anxiety did not respond to the gender, either male or female, based on studentsAo smartphone efficacy, whether high or low.
The gender, therefore, does not discriminate between students with high smartphone efficacy differently from their counterparts with low smartphone efficacy.
Partial eta squared expressly specified zero effect for the influence of gender on the mathematics anxiety of students with high and low smartphone efficacy.
Thus, the null hypothesis is accepted.
Hypothesis seven There is no significant influence of treatment, gender, and smartphone efficacy interaction on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
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= 0.
084, p = 0.
This result shows that there was no significant three-way interaction effect of treatment, gender, and smartphone efficacy on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
This hypothesis is therefore not rejected.
Thus, the nonsignificant interaction accounted for 0.
00% of the variation in the studentsAo mathematics It was concluded that there was no significant interaction effect of treatment, gender, and smartphone efficacy on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
Findings from this study showed that students exposed to a smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy had a greater decline in mathematics anxiety when compared with their counterparts exposed to the traditional method.
However, the result of the analysis related to the hypothesis indicated that the decline in studentsAo mathematics anxiety was not statistically significant.
This result contradicts the other findings (Zavareh et al.
, 2022.
Moliner and Alegre, 2.
, who found that the choice of teaching method adopted by the teacher influences studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
It further contradicts the other findings (Mehidizadeh et al.
, 2.
on the effectiveness of cooperative learning strategies in reducing the level of academic anxiety among students.
However, the cooperative learning strategy is effective in increasing studentsAo learning outcomes in mathematics (Awofala & Lawal, 2021.
Awofala & Lawal, 2.
The reduction in mathematics anxiety of the experimental group in this study could be a result of the inclusion of smartphones in the teaching and learning In this study, male students were found to have a greater decline in mathematics anxiety than their female counterparts.
This finding aligns with other reports (Hills et al.
, 2016.
Mutodi & Ngirande, 2.
who found that female students had a slightly higher mathematics anxiety mean score than male students, and contradicts the other findings (Perez-Fuentes et , 2.
who reported that girls exhibited less anxiety than boys.
This also contradicts the results (Asikhia, 2.
, who found that male students had higher mathematics anxiety scores than female students.
Analysis of covariance further indicated no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety of male and female students taught mathematics using a smartphoneassisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy and those in the control group.
This finding aligns with other reports (Al-Shannaq & Leppavirta, 2.
, which found no significant difference in the mathematics anxiety of male and female students.
However, it contradicts other reports (Asikhia, 2.
, which found a significant difference in the influence of gender on studentsAo anxiety in mathematics.
Analysis of the smartphone efficacy revealed that students with high and low smartphone efficacy had a slight increase in mathematics anxiety, with students with high smartphone efficacy having a greater increase in mathematics anxiety.
However, this difference in mathematics anxiety score of students with high and low phone efficacy was not statistically significant, but the variable accounted for 0.
2% of the variation observed in studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
Analysis on the effect of treatment and gender on studentsAo mathematics anxiety showed that male students exposed to the smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy had the greatest decline in mathematics anxiety when compared with female counterparts in the same group and students exposed to the traditional method.
However, further analysis showed that the influence of treatment and gender on mathematics anxiety was statistically nonsignificant.
Findings from this study also revealed that students with low phone-efficacy in the smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy had the greatest decline in mathematics anxiety compared to their counterparts with high phone efficacy and students exposed to the traditional method .
ho had an increase in their mathematics anxiet.
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ANCOVA analysis indicated no significant influence of treatment and phone-efficacy on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
More so, there was no significant interaction influence of gender and phone efficacy on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
This means that the effect of the phone efficacy was not similar across genders and that the phone efficacy was not gender Furthermore, there was no significant interaction effect of treatment, gender, and phone efficacy on studentsAo mathematics anxiety.
The non-significant three-way interaction effect is at variance with previous studies (Awofala & Nneji, 2012.
Awofala.
Balogun & Olagunju, 2011.
Awofala et al.
, 2.
on mathematics learning outcome.
The present result revealed that the treatment, gender, and phone efficacy did not mutually influence mathematics anxiety to produce a joint effect.
The non-significant three-way interaction effect is explainable in that the interaction of two of the variables did not change at different levels of the third variable.
Thus, the mathematics anxiety of students with different genders and different phone efficacy tended not to be sensitive to the instructional strategies employed with regard to whether the students are male or female or whether they exhibit high or low smartphone CONCLUSION This study on the effect of smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy on the mathematics anxiety of senior high school students is worthwhile as it revealed that exposing students to the smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy resulted in a decline in their mathematics anxiety, though the difference .
was not statistically Specifically, the study showed that smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy favoured male students better in that they had a greater decline in their mathematics anxiety when compared with their female counterparts .
his difference was also statistically non-significan.
Furthermore, smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy narrowed the gap in mathematics anxiety between the better-privileged students .
tudents with high phone-efficac.
and their less privileged colleagues .
tudents with low phone efficac.
, as partial eta squared specified zero predictive effect of the treatment on the mathematics anxiety of students with high and low phone-efficacy.
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are offered:
Teachers should expose mathematics students to a smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy as it will result in a decline in mathematics anxiety, which is one of the factors influencing studentsAo performance in mathematics.
Government and non-governmental stakeholders should support students and teachers through the provision of smartphones to enhance the smartphone-assisted learning .
A more comprehensive study on the effect of smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy should be carried out to either buttress or negate the findings of this .
Smartphone-assisted jigsaw cooperative learning strategy as a new paradigm in teaching and learning should be further explored for its effect on other learning outcomes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Many thanks to the mathematics teachers and students who participated in the study.
DOI: http://dx.
org/10.
17509/x.
p- ISSN 2775-6793 e- ISSN 2775-6815 87 | ASEAN Journal of Science and Engineering Education.
Volume 5 Issue 2.
September 2025 Hal 75-90 AUTHORSAo NOTE The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this Authors confirmed that the paper was free of plagiarism.
REFERENCES