The knowledge of mathematics has a boundless limit in terms of application and usage.  In fact, humans are born to do mathematics, and they have the brain infrastructure to process numbers right from their tender age, when a child counts the apples in a picture as a foundation laying for sense of numeracy and accountability. Mathematics is powerful enough to help us to build a civilization with dignity for all, where arrogance, bigotry and iniquity are rejected. Mathematics can help us to build a world that is impregnate with ethnic convenient since it is a pan-human phenomenon. Numeric thinking in a child enables them activate their reasoning faculty, develop deeper understanding to grasp and work with certain mathematics concepts as a result of their connectivity with objects that facilitate learning.

Students' poor performance in Mathematics has been a subject of debate across the globe [1]. Researchers and policy makers have investigated alternative methods and activities with the purpose of improving the effectiveness of mathematics teaching. [2].  Playing game could be an activity in the right direction. This is because children are highly motivated when given opportunity to play, they could learn important concepts in mathematics in the area of cognitive, affective and their psychomotor domains without realizing it, through implicit learning. According to Pelay, [3] children could also acquire general cognitive skills through concentration and intelligence, which would positively affect their performance.

Chess is a sequential game, where the players make moves in turn with white and black pieces on the chess board with the aim of capturing the opponent’s king. There are three possible outcomes of a chess game: you win, you draw (a tie), or you lose. Chess instruction potentially have both direct impacts on the capacity for learning mathematics, but there may also be indirect impacts operating through a set of non-cognitive skills [3].  Chess game has 16 pieces with different types of mobility, it is a very complex game that requires calculation and planning ahead, which in turn requires the ability to concentrate and to memorize sequences of moves and resulting positions. It rewards the ability to exert patience and self-control, as ‘quick’ moves are often punished because   they   tend to   lead to losses. The action became necessary because working out mathematical problems is a thoughtful process that requires step by step approach in an attempt to set a strong basis for learning the subject right from tender age.

Chess may foster attention, problem solving, and self-monitoring of thinking (i.e., metacognition).  Experience of basic arithmetic with the value of pieces, geometry of the chess board and the piece movement are evident for the overlapping between chess and mathematics. Chess brings about intuitive and attractive to the children learning. It could be described as a cognitive enhancer [4]. A recent meta-analysis [5] reported that chess players outperformed nonchess players in several cognitive skills (e.g., planning, numerical ability, and reasoning).  Another metaanalysis [6] found positive correlations between chess skill and cognitive abilities such as fluid intelligence, processing speed, short-term and working memory (WM), and comprehension knowledge. Chess board was an efficient instructional material for the teaching of matrices in this study, where the arrangement of the pieces in rows and columns facilitate students' cognitive skill.

The existence of students' anxiety and phobia for mathematics could be checked through the introduction of ethnomathematics game in schools. Ethnomathematics game is the application of indigenous ideology in tackling mathematical problem. Every culture has its mathematical foundations which are inform as a result of the need to solve certain pertinent problem in their domain and coexist for optimum relationship. Favilli [7] described ethnomathematics as a research program in the history and philosophy of mathematics, with pedagogical implications focusing the arts and techniques of explaining, understanding and coping with different socio-cultural environments. According to Lameras et.al. [8] the use of traditional games in the classroom creates a relationship between culturally specific activities and classroom activities. Ethnomathematics presents mathematical concepts of the school curriculum in a way in which these concepts are related to the students' cultural and daily experiences. [9]

Researches have shown that it is not possible to develop somebody aside from all of his/her social-emotional-cultural experience of life and students are stared in the face with individual difference syndromes. Based on this facts, the use of 'Ayo' game, as it is called in Yoruba, I'tche game among the Orokam people, Okwe by Igbo people, Ateratar-dar by Tiv people, Omweso in Uganda, Kpo in Sierra leone and Liberia, Ajua in Kenya  in the teaching of  mathematics became imperative, as it is widely used in different part of the world. Ayo game is a board game comprising of two rows of six holes (2 by 6) containing four tokens each. The board is usually carved on a rectangular wooden surface. Ayo game is played by two players facing each other with rules guiding it. A player is expected to move token from any hole through anti clockwise movement [10].

According to Abah [10], in bringing out realities out of abstract mathematical concepts, the teacher may call to mind several cultural artifacts which can easily be blended into classroom instruction.  However, the abundance of game available to both children and adults for leisure also constitute mathematical snippets that can be used in conventional schools. Therefore, this study examined the meta-analysis of chess and ethno-mathematical games on students' academic performance in Mathematics game.

Research Question

What is the performance of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games before and after treatment?

Research Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were formulated for this study:

• Ho 1: There is no significant difference in the pre-test mean scores of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games and the conventional strategies.

• Ho 2: There is no significant difference in the post-test mean scores of students          exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games and the conventional group  

The research design for this study was a quasi-experimental design pretest, posttest and control group.  The sample for this study was 180 students selected from the public secondary schools in Ondo State. 15 male and 15 female students were selected from each of the six schools using stratified sampling technique. The instrument used for this study was a Mathematics Performance Test (MPT). Face and content validity of the instrument was ensured, In playing Chess game to teach Matrices, the researcher discussed the rules involved and encouraged students to master how each piece moves. Relating the position in row and column of the chessboard, solving questions on addition and subtraction using the corresponding position. Since chess game requires calculation, concentration and problem-solving approach:

Direction of the pieces were also used to explain the multiplication of the matrix, null matrix, diagonal matrix and unit matrix with the students where some of the matrices problems were solved practically based on the hypothesized questions raised. The students knowledge were linked with the concept of matrix and its interconnectivity to the direction of chess pieces. The diagonal, vertical and horizontal directions in matrix as well as the movement of chess pieces discussed together with the rows and columns trajectory. The researcher however engaged students in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of matrix by emphasizing chess tactic. The researcher engaged students with the rules of Ayo in the teaching of Algebraic expression for all lessons where students were all paired for the game and materials involved. Students were actively moving their tokens anticlockwise and as they learn how the tokens move. The researcher engaged the students by using questions as well as visuals to support direction of tokens. The game of "Ayo" was used by the researcher to teach algebra with the students. The rules guiding "Ayo" was discussed and followed up with active participation of the students. There are 12 partitions with 4 tokens in each of them, which gives a total of 48 tokens in "Ayo" game. Addition and subtraction of tokens were experimented through constructive engagement of players and the winning team had more tokens at the end of the game while compared to their opponent tokens. The researcher engaged students with practical questions involving algebra and were discussed with the students. and the reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained when test re-test method of reliability was adopted.

Research Question 1: What is the performance of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games strategy before and after treatment?
Table 1 revealed that students in the chess games, ethnomathematics games and conventional group had pre-test mean scores of 3.08, 3.48 and 3.75 respectively and posttest mean score of 7.59, 8.08 and 4.53 respectively. Therefore, the mean difference of students' performance in Mathematics between pre-test and post-test scores for chess game, ethnomathematics games and conventional group are 4.51, 4.60 and 0.78 respectively.  This implies that ethnomathematics game appear to be the most effective in the teaching of Mathematics.

Table 1: Mean and Standard deviation of pre-test and post-test scores of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games before and after treatment

Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference in the 
pre-test mean scores of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games and the conventional strategies.
Table 2 shows that F 2, 177 = 0.037, p(value) 0.964 > 0.05. Hence, the null hypothesis was not rejected. This implies that there is no significant difference in the pre-test mean scores of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games and the conventional strategies. It means that the three groups were homogenous at the beginning of the experiment.

Table 2: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) for the Pre-test mean scores of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games and the conventional strategies

R Squared = 0.000 (Adjusted R Squared = -0.011)

Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference in the post-test mean scores of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games and the conventional strategies.
Table 3 shows that F 2,176 = 73.335, p(value) 0.000 < 0.05. Hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. This implies that there is significant difference in the post-test mean scores of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games and the conventional strategies respectively. Scheffe post- hoc analysis was used to locate the source of pair-wise significance between means. The result is shown in (Table 4). Table 4 shows the post-hoc test observed from the post test results (chess and ethno-mathematical games). The analysis revealed that there exist no significant difference between chess and ethno-mathematical games. This implies that chess and ethno-mathematical games are equivalent. There exist a significant difference between chess game and conventional in favour of chess game, and there exist a significant difference between ethno- mathematical games and conventional in favour of ethno-mathematics game.

Table 3: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) for the post-test mean scores of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games and the conventional strategies

p<0.05 (Significant)

The findings of the study showed that there is no significant difference in the pre-test mean score of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical games and conventional group. The findings established the homogeneity of the three groups involved in the experiment prior to the treatment. In other words, the knowledge baseline for the three groups were equal.  Consequently, any significant difference recorded afterwards could not be ascribed to chance, but to the specific treatment applied.

The findings of the study showed that there is  no significant difference in the post-test mean score of students exposed to chess and ethno-mathematical  games strategies, which affirmed the equivalence between chess and ethno-mathematical games. The findings of the study also showed that there is significant difference in the post-test mean score of students exposed to chess game and conventional group. However, the findings also revealed that there is significant difference in the post-test mean score of students exposed to ethno- mathematical and conventional group. This is in agreement with the findings of Sala and Gobet [11] that the results of the research on chess instruction have profound implications for understanding and transfer of skill. This study is supported by Rosa and Orey [9] who exposed the fact that ethnomathematics teaching approach is more effective than the Conventional teaching method.  However, Ajai also confirmed in his findings that students exposed to games and simulations exhibited higher achievement and interest in geometry than those who were not. The finding is at variant with the study conducted by Safiyah and Ali [12] who found no clear causal relationship between academic performance and the use of computer games.

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