Curriculum Alignment Strategies and Students' Critical Thinking Skills in Mathematics among Secondary Schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The study investigated the influence of curriculum alignment strategies on students’ critical thinking skills in mathematics among secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. To achieve this purpose, three research objectives and hypotheses were raised and formulated to guide the study. Correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population comprises of all mathematics teachers and students for 2025/2026 academic session. Out of which, 72 teachers and 855 students were selected through multi-stage and simple random sampling technique as sample size. A researcher-developed instruments namely: Curriculum Alignment Strategies Questionnaire (CASQ) and Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Mathematics Questionnaire (SCTSMQ) were used. The instrument was duly validated using faced validity and Cronbach Alpha was used in obtaining the reliability coefficient of the instrument which stood at .71 and .76 for CASQ and SCTSMQ respectively. The research questions and hypotheses were answered using Simple Linear Regression to and answer and test the null hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. Based on the findings of the study, it was revealed that teachers’ instructional strategies, assessment strategies, and technologyenhanced strategies significantly influence students’ development of critical thinking in secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. It was concluded that improving students’ critical thinking in mathematics requires the adoption of learner-centred instructional methods, innovative assessment practices, and purposeful use of digital tools. Recommendations were made among others that Mathematics teachers should adopt learner-centred instructional strategies such as problem-based learning, guided discovery, cooperative learning, and analytical questioning to promote deeper reasoning among students.