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Research ArticleOpen Access

Interaction Effect of Gender and Teaching Method on Academic Achievement and Interest of Basic Science Students in Upper Basic Education

Abigail C. Obodo1*, Mercy I. Ani1

  1. 1Department of Science Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Enugu, Nigeria

* Corresponding author: Abigail C. Obodo

Abstract

This study investigated the interaction effects of teaching method and gender on students' academic achievement and interest in Basic Science in upper Basic Education. Quasi Experimental design was adopted for this study. Population of the study consisted of all the 6,325 junior secondary school year two (JS 2) Basic Science students in the 26 government secondary schools in Enugu education zone. The sample consisted of 186 JSS 2 students selected from 4 government owned junior secondary schools. Two of the schools were randomly assigned to experimental group while the other two were assigned to control group and used to investigate the interaction effect of teaching method (CAI) and gender on academic achievement and intere st of students' in Basic Science. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The instruments were validated by experts. The internal reliability coefficient of BSAT was established to be 0.72 using Kuder Richardson (KR-20) while reliability coefficient of BSII was established to be 0.78 using Cronbach's alpha. The BSAT and the BSII were administered to the students as pretest and posttest for data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while ANCOVA was us ed to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result revealed that there was no significant interaction effect of teaching method and gender on the mean interest scores of students in Basic Science. However, no significant interaction e ffect of teaching method and gender was found on the mean achievement scores of students' in Basic Science. The researchers recommended that teachers should ensure constant and effective utilization of CAI for instruction in Basic Science and science rela ted subjects to enhance academic achievement and interest of students

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Publication history

Published
1 July 2023

Copyright & licence. © 2023 the author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Research ArticleVol. 5, No. 1 (2024)

Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning of Basic Science Education Programme in the New Normal in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

Abigail C. Obodo, Mercy I. Ani, Olasoji V. Omosowon

Technologies are ubiquitous in the 21st century, and educators need to integrate relevant technologies into their teaching practices to meet expectations and keep abreast with the education profession's advancement. A descriptive survey research design was used in this study. Three research questions and one null hypothesis guided the study. The population of the study comprised all the 24 Integrated Science lecturers (10 males and 14 females) in both private and public tertiary institutions in Enugu State, Nigeria. The population was manageable and as a result no sample was carried out for the study. An instrument titled "Questionnaire on Emerging Technologies in Teaching and Learning" (QETTL). Three experts validated the instrument while the reliability of the instrument was estimated using Cronbach Alpha formula with reliability indices of 0.76. Frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while Chi square statistics was used to test the null hypothesis. Findings revealed that some of the challenges hindering Basic Science teachers from utilizing technologies in teaching and learning are lack of internet access and in-service training among others. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that in-service training of lecturers on the usage of 21st century technologies and provision of internet connectivity should be prioritize by government and the university management to enable lecturers maximize effectively 215 century technologies during teaching and learning.

JOSCED1 July 2024pp. 128–14100
Research ArticleVol. 5, No. 1 (2024)

Mathematical Competencies as Determinants of Secondary School Academic Achievement in Physics for Sustainable Education

Fidelis O. Nnadi

The poor secondary school students' academic achievement in Physics as shown in the literature over the past decades has been attributed to poor acquisition of mathematical competencies that can enable them to do well in practical Physics. The need to examine mathematical competencies as determinants of Physics achievement becomes necessary for sustainable education. The study which adopted an ex-post facto research design was carried out in Nsukka education zone of Enugu state during the 2021/2022 academic session. The sample size for the study was 388 senior secondary school I Physics students in 6 randomly sampled single-sex secondary schools. Trained research assistants used interview results to fill the mathematical competency in practical Physics questionnaire (MCPPQ) for each student. Grades spreadsheet was used to collect students' senior secondary certificate examination result in Physics. Cronbach's alpha, which yielded a value of.85 was used to measure the internal consistency reliability of MCPPQ. Beta-weight was used to answer all the research questions while Chi-square statistic was used to test the hypotheses at.05 level of significance and 425 degrees of freedom. The result of the study as perceived by the students indicated that basic practical Physics mathematical operations, graphing skills, generation of readings from equations derived from experimental setup and deductions from the graph in decreasing magnitude positively influenced Physics achievement in external examination. Male and female students' models were similar in terms of path coefficients in the model. Hence, it was recommended that Physics teachers should improve upon students' mathematical competencies in practical Physics to boost their Physics achievement.

JOSCED1 July 2024pp. 1–1400
Research ArticleVol. 5, No. 1 (2024)

Effects of Inquiry Based Teaching Strategy and Gender on Secondary School Students' Academic Achievement in Stereochemistry in Enugu Education Zone

Cynthia O. Omeje, Mary I. Ugwu

The students' consistent low performance in internal and external examinations undermined the efficacy of chemistry teachers' methods of instruction. Thus, the purpose of the research is to find out how inquiry-based learning can impact students' academic achievement in stereochemistry in Enugu education zone. The study was guided by two research questions and three research hypotheses. The study employed a pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design. 4,532 SS2 Chemistry students made up the study's population. A combination of random and purposive sampling procedure was used to select 96 students. While the control group received instruction via lectures, the experimental group was taught using an inquiry-based teaching strategy. The Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) was the instrument used for data collection, and its reliability index was evaluated using Kuder-Richardson's formula-20 which yielded coefficient of 0.84. The mean, standard deviation, and analysis of covariance were used to analyze the data. The findings demonstrated that students exposed to the inquiry-based teaching strategy outperformed their peers who received instruction via lectures. For improved students' achievement, it was recommended that Chemistry teachers should use inquiry based teaching strategy when teaching chemistry.

JOSCED1 July 2024pp. 47–5900