Efficacy of Podcast on Nigeria Certificate of Education Biology Students’ Achievement in Individualized and Collaborative Settings.

Abstract

This study investigates the efficacy of podcast on Nigeria Certificate in Education Biology Students’ achievement in individualized and collaborative setting. Quasi-experimental Solomon III design was adopted for this study. A total number of 205 (96 male and 109 female) pre-service teachers were purposively selected for this study from Three Colleges of Education in Niger State and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The selected students were put into three groups: Think-Pair Share, Reciprocal peer Teaching groups (experimental group) and control group Individualized setting. Podcast Package on Teaching and Learning of Biology (PPTLB) and Plant Physiology Concepts on Achievement Test (PPCAT) were developed and validated by the Technology and Biology experts respectively with the reliability coefficient of 0.74 using kuder Rechardson (KR-21) which is considered reliable. The PPCAT was administered to students in the pretest, posttest upon treatment of the test instrument, and later reshuffled and administered in retention (delay test). Four research questions and null research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and these hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The data obtained from the pretest, posttest and retention were statistically analyzed by Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. The results of the study indicated that Reciprocal Peer Teaching enhanced students’ achievement than Individualized Setting and Think- Pair- Share strategies. The results revealed that the individualized learning strategy is gender sensitive in favour of male students. Thus, it is recommended that prospective teachers should be exposed to the use of podcast for collaborative learning to supplement the lecture method.