WILL INDIGENOUS SCIENCE-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES IMPROVE BIOLOGY STUDENTS’ INTEREST AND ACHIEVEMENT

MOEMEKE, CLARA D MOEMEKE, CLARA D; Nwaham, Caroline O  Nwaham, Caroline O; Ezimano, Orevaoghene Ezimano, Orevaoghene

MOEMEKE, CLARA D University of Delta
Nwaham, Caroline O University of Delta
Ezimano, Orevaoghene University of Benin

Keywords: Indigenous knowledge; Instructional strategies; Science instruction; Biology instruction; Culturally relevant pedagogy

Abstract

The study investigated the efficacy of indigenous science –based instructional strategy on Biology students’ interest and achievement. The purpose was to find a solution to poor achievement of students in the subject in external examinations which has been linked to poor instructional methods used by teachers. Two coeducational schools were selected by Multistage sampling technique from Isoko South local government area of Delta state and randomly assigned to treatment groups. The experimental group was taught ecological concepts using the indigenous science –based strategy while the control group was taught using lecture approach. A 50-item Biology Achievement Test with reliability coefficient of .72 and 15-item Biology Interest Scale (.82) were used to collect data after 15 periods of 45minutes teaching in each class. The Mann Whitney U test (U = 898.00; P = 0.007) showed a significant difference in the interest in biology of both groups while the t-test revealed a significant difference in the achievement of students at the 0.05 alpha level. The study concluded that indigenous science –based strategy improves students’ interest and achievement in ecology concepts and recommended the introduction of culturally relevant pedagogy to draw cultural relevance for indigenous people studying sciences in non-western cultural settings.