Effect of Frequent Practical Work on Secondary School Students' Achievement in Biology
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, MATHEMATICS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION (JSTMEE) VOL. 1 NO. 1, PP 14-24
11 Pages Posted: 7 Apr 2016
Date Written: January 30, 2016
Abstract
The study examined the effect of frequency of practical work on achievement of senior secondary two (SS2) students in Biology. A sample of 228 SS2 Students from three government-approved schools in Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State Nigeria was used. Biology Achievement Test (BAT) with reliability coefficients of 0.89 was used to collect data from students in Biology. Mean and standard deviations were used to answer research questions while analysis of covariance was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. ANCOVA with the P-value of less than 0.05 for achievement (F2, 221 = 240.521, p<0.05) among the harmonized, intermediate and the control groups showed that there was significant difference in achievement. No significant difference was observed between boys and girls in the intermediate (F1, 278=0.015, p>0.05) and the harmonized (F1, 65 = 3.248, p>0.05) groups. It is recommended that teachers should endeavour to organize practical work for students as frequently as possible (at least once a week) so as to develop in the students the practical skills required of them for final examination. Also students should be advised to take every biology practical work very seriously. Finally laboratory technicians should be employed by school authorities to assist biology teacher(s) in the area of practical work so that workload, time management and frequent practical are realistic to enhance students’ achievement.
Keywords: Biology achievement, frequency of practical, practical biology, harmonized practical group, intermediate practical group, and biology laboratory
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