IMPACT OF INDIVIDUALIZED LEARNING STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN DATA PROCESSING IN NNEWI EDUCATION ZONE OF ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study examined how data processing students’ interest could be improved through the use of individualized learning strategy in Nnewi Education Zone of Anambra State, Nigeria. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design, specifically the pretest posttest non-equivalent control group research design. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. A two-stage sampling procedure were used to sample 38 public co-educational secondary schools out of 50 public schools in Nnewi education zone of Anambra State. A simple random sampling technique (balloting without replacement) were used to select 6 public co-educational secondary schools. Intact classes from the 6 schools were used for the study. The instrument used for data collection were an adapted interest scale questionnaire. The reliability of the interest scale tagged computer maintenance ethics and human issues questionnaire (CMEQAHI) were determined using Cronbach Alpha method with an index value of 0.71. The two groups were taught six lessons on the theme computer maintenance ethics using individualized learning strategy (ILS) and lecture method (LM) respectively. Data were collected by administering CMEQAHI on the participants as pre-test and post-test. Data obtained were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and two-way Analysis of Covariance. The findings revealed among others that there is a significant difference in the mean interest rating scores of students exposed to ILS and LM in favour of the former group. Based on the findings, the study recommended that individualized learning strategy should be incorporated in the curriculum as a teaching strategy in teaching data processing in the classroom since it encourages self-development.