SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
DEPARTMENT: SCIENCE
AND COMPUTER EDUCATION
DEGREE
IN VIEW: M. Sc.
Ed
TITLE OF DISSERTATION
EFFECT OF EXPERIENTIAL TEACHING APPROACH
ON PUPIL’S ACHIEVEMENT IN BASIC SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY
SYNOPSIS
Since
Nigeria gained her independence in 1960 government has placed premium on the
teaching of science and technology at all levels of basic Education. This is
due to the realization that knowledge in basic science and technology is
central and indispensable to the development of every Nigerian child. Science
and technology play crucial roles in the child’s survival, adjustment, and
adaptation to the child’s immediate and wider societies dominated by scientific
activities. Any child that lacks the basic knowledge in science and technology
cannot participate meaningfully in some social activities. For instance, for a
child to utilize effectively the global system for mobile (GSM) communication
such child must know how to manipulate number and scientific symbols, since the
operation of mobile phone depends on the manipulation of numbers and scientific
symbols. Based on this the Federal government of Nigeria (FGN) made the study
of science and technology compulsory at all levels of basic schools. This is to
ensure that every Nigerian child is science literate. Secondly it is aimed at
laying solid foundation for children’s further study of science and technology
and allied courses. For instance one of the objectives of the Basic Education
according to Nigerian government is laying of solid foundation for scientific
and reflective thinking (FRN 2004) to accomplish the above, government stated
that “there will be entrenchment of basic science teaching in the basic school
curriculum” (FRN 1986). But despite those lofty objectives in science and
technology, records available indicated abysmal achievement in science by
Nigerian basic school pupils. For instance, the 1999 UNICEF/UNESCO/FME study on
monitoring learning Achievement (MLA) reported pupils’ national average score
of 32% in science with males’ mean score of 32.73% and S.D 18.10 and female
with mean score of 32.96% S.D of 18.29. Another MLA study conducted by
universal Basic Education commission (UBEC) in 2003 reported the national mean
score in science and technology of 40.33 with S.D 17.93, while the score of
Ebonyi state in the study was 37.93% with S.D 16.58. The male mean score for
Ebonyi State is 36.13 and S.D 16.43 while female had a mean score of 39. 43 and
S.D of 16.63 (UBEC 2007). In 2006, another UBEC MLA study reported national
mean score of 40.78 and S.D of 15.43 (UBEC 2009). UBEC (2007:145) attributed
this pupils’ abysmal performance to “teachers” not teaching the subject well
which leads to pupils’ dislike of the subject”. Teachers neglect the fact that
science teaching and learning involves process skills. They rather adopt
traditional method of teaching of science where the teachers supply all
information and pupils commit the knowledge to memory. It is against this
backdrop that made Nwazojie and Nworgu (2003), Ling and Boo (2007) to
independently point out the current method of teaching science in basic schools
is often didactic (teacher centred) and
does not engage pupils ’ knowledge effectively. Nworgu and Nwazoji
(2003:120) therefore lamented that such approach emphasizes rote memorization
and regurgitation o f fact, pupil’s activities are given less emphasis”. UBEC
(2009:409) lamented that “this causes for a great concern because low
percentage of pupils having adequate knowledge and understanding of basic
science is unacceptable if the country is to attain scientific and
technological advancement”. Worried by
this development, science Education researchers have been seeking for
alternative teaching approach that will enhance the achievement of government’s
science Education objectives. this study is one of those numerous efforts. The
general objective of this study is to examine effect of experiential teaching
approach on pupils’ achievement in science and technology while in specific terms;
the study will investigates effects of experiential teaching approach on
pupils’ achievement in Basic Science and technology, effects of experiential
teaching approach on male and female pupils’ achievement in Basic Science
Technology (BST) and interaction effect of methods and gender on pupils’
achievement in Basic Science and technology.
METHODOLOGY
This
study is a quasi-experimental study. The design for the study is the pre-test,
post-test, non-equivalent, control group design. Intact classes were used for
the study. The participants for this study were drawn from six basic (primary)
schools in Onueke Education zone of Ebonyi State. The schools were chosen
through simple random sampling. Three of the schools served as experimental
group while the other three served as control group. Balloting was used to
assign schools to experiment and control groups. The research instrument for
the study is the Basic science and Technology Achievement Test (BSAT). This
instrument was constructed by the researcher. It consists of 40 multiple choice
items with four options; it measures pupils’ performance in selected topics in
Basic science and technology. The items evaluated only the lower cognitive
process because of the level of subjects in the study. The instrument was
subjected to face and content validation by experts in measurement and evaluation
and some serving teachers. A reliability co-efficient of 0.83 was obtained from
the instrument using Kuder-Richardson (K-R20) formula. It also has a
stability index of 0.77 which was obtained form a test and retest carried out
within an interval of two weeks. The researcher used regular basic six (6)
teachers of the experimental schools as research Assistants. A training programme
was organized to prepare them on how to use the experimental and control
packages prepared by the researcher, as may be applicable to each group. All
Necessary instructions were given to them. Necessary materials were also
supplied to them. BSAT was administered to each group as pretest and post test,
before and after the experiment respectively. In the experimental group, the
children were divided into small groups of six children per group with equal
number of gender. The experimental group was taught Basic science and
technology using experimental teaching package while the control group was
taught the same topic using the conventional teaching approach. However, the
researcher supervised instructional delivery in the two groups the study lasted
for two months. At the end of the eight
weeks the research assistants administered the post test to both groups. They
marked the scripts and handed them over to the researcher. Analysis of
covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyze the data.
RESULTS
The
results reveal that the experiential teaching approach enhanced higher
achievement in basic science and technology as the treatment group recorded
X-57.7, S.D 14 against control group score of X = 41.46 and S.D 13.90. This
result is statistically significant at alpha level of 0.05 as Fcal of 482.92 is
greater than Fcv 3.84. Furthermore it was shown that the method enhances
achievement for both male and female pupils as males recorded X = 56.58 S.D
13.68 while females had X = 59.03, S.D = 14.42. Even though there is slight
difference in their mean achievement scores, the difference is not statistically
significant as Fcal = 2.122 is less than Fcv = 3.84. Finally the result showed
that there is no interaction between teaching method and gender on pupils’
achievement in basic science and technology as means for males are 56.58 and
41.32 for experimental and control groups respectively the means score for
female are 59.03 and 41.58 for experimental and control respectively. This
scores are not statistically significant as Fcal=1.011 is less than Fcv =3.84. Those
results therefore show that experiential teaching approach will lead to the
achievement of government’s objectives in science education if teachers adopt
it as a teaching approach in schools.
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