EEFFECTS OF COMPUTER AIDED INSTRUCTION (CAI) PACKAGE ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION OF BIOLOGY STUDENTS IN MINNA METROPOLIS, NIGER STATE

Abstract

The study determined the effectiveness of Computer Aided Instructional package (CAI) on achievement and retention of biology students in senior secondary schools in Minna metropolis. Four research questions were raised and four null hypotheses were tested. The study adopted the pre-test-posttest=control group design. A sample of one hundred and twenty (120) students from two intact classes from senior secondary two (SS II) of mixed gender were selected for this study. The researcher developed a computer assisted instructional package (CAI) on mitosis which was used as treatment for experimental group while control group were exposed to conventional lecture method (CLM). The instrument used for data collection was teacher made biology achievement test (TMAT). A 20-items multiple choice objective type achievements test covering four phases of mitosis was used. Reliability co-efficient of 0.89 was obtained using Kuder-Richardson (K-R 21). Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyze the hypotheses. The findings revealed that the experimental group performed better than the control group. There was no significant difference in the performance of males and female students. The experimental group retained better than the control group while there was no significant difference in retention in male and female students in the experimental group. It was recommended that teachers should be exposed to the development and use of CAI; organize workshops and seminars and symposia on CAI to assist teacher deliver lessons through CAI packages to enhance learning among students generally.