IMPACTS OF TWO INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES ON JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN BASIC SCIENCE

Abstract

This study investigated the impacts of two innovative instructional strategies on students’ academic achievement in Basic Science in Oyo metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. A pretest-posttest control group quasi experimental design was employed in the study. The treatments were at three levels: Discovery learning, Guided Inquiry and Conventional strategies. The moderating effects of gender were also examined. 260 students obtained through intact classes of the three selected junior secondary schools participated in the study. Four research instruments were used. The data collected were analyzed using Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at alpha level of p<0.05. Estimated Marginal Mean (EMM) of different groups were also determined and Bonferroni Post-hoc was used to obtain significant main effects. The results of findings revealed that the treatment innovative teaching strategies was found to have significant effects on students’ academic achievement (F(2,249) =21.373; p<0.05, partial η2 = 0.160). Students exposed to treatment obtained a higher postachievement mean score 24.50 for discovery learning group followed by guided enquiry strategy group 22.50, while the conventional strategy (CS) control group had the least adjusted postachievement mean score in basic science with 13.62.Based on this finding, it is recommended that teacher should be discouraged from using teacher-center instructional strategy in teaching basic science but rather, innovative teaching strategy should be adopted by the teachers where students would be actively involved in the art teaching and learning. It was concluded that the innovative teaching strategy enhance students’ achievement