A Study of the Effectiveness of Comparative Advance Organizers on the First Year High School Math Course Achievement

The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effectiveness of comparative advance organizers on the first year high school math course achievement. To this end, a sample of 63 high school first graders from region one of education organization in Qom city was selected in the academic year 2009-2010 using cluster sampling method. They were assigned to two groups of experimental (n=32) and control (n=31). All students were matched in terms of IQ. Both groups took a researcher-made pretest and no significant difference was found between them. To assess the dependent variable a lesson plan was designed based on comparative advance organizers to teach the experimental group for 8 sessions of 90 minutes each. The control group was taught through the traditional method. Then, both groups took a researcher-made post-test. t-test using SPSS software indicated that the treatment (advance organizers) impacted significantly the students’ math achievement.