EFFECTS OF CONCEPT-MAPPING INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY IN REMEDIATING SENIOR SCHOOL STUDENTS’ MISCONCEPTIONS IN ECOLOGY IN OYO, NIGERIA

Abosede Adebimpe   Ogundare; Bello Ganiyu; Ademakinwa Adeoye; Isaac Olakanmi  Abimbola

Abosede Adebimpe Ogundare Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti, Nigeria
Ganiyu Bello University of Ilorin
Ademakinwa Adeoye Kwara State College of Education, Oro
Isaac Olakanmi Abimbola University of Ilorin

Keywords: Misconceptions, Concept-mapping, Ecology, Remediate, Instructional strategy

Abstract

Students held misconceptions about many biology concepts and theories such as ecology, genetics, evolution, respiration, and cell, among others, and these can be traced to ineffectiveness and inappropriate use of instructional strategies. This paper therefore, examined the effects of concept-mapping instructional strategy in remediating senior school students’ misconceptions in ecology. The quasi- experimental design was adopted for the study while Multistage sampling technique was used to select the 114 senior school biology students that participated in the study. Misconception Questionnaire on Ecological Concepts and Basic Ecological Concepts Achievement Test (BECAT) were used for data collection. Percentages and chi-square were used to answer the research questions while Chi-square was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that biology students in secondary schools held many misconceptions on ecology. Concept-mapping instructional strategy remediated 61.9% of the misconceptions held by students. In addition, there was no significant difference in the number of misconceptions held by male and female students exposed to concept-mapping instructional strategy. The study recommended that concept-mapping instructional strategy should be used concurrently with other innovative instructional strategies to remediate students’ misconceptions in ecology and other related biology concepts.