EFFECTS OF LABORATORY PRACTICAL EXERCISE ON BIOLOGY ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MINNA METROPOLIS.

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of laboratory practical exercise on biology achievement and retention among secondary school students in Minna metropolis. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The review of literature in the study was organized under conceptual framework, theoretical framework and empirical studies. In the conceptual framework, concept of laboratory, practical exercise, biology, achievement, retention, osmosis and gender were reviewed. Piaget’s cognitive constructivist learning theory and vygotsky’s social constructivist learning theory were also reviewed under theoretical framework. The empirical studies examined related studies on the effect of laboratory practical exercise on biology students’ achievement and retention of the concept of osmosis, and studies on gender and academic achievement and retention. A quasi- experimental design was adopted for the study. The study was carried out in Minna Metropolis of Niger State. The sample for the study comprised of one hundred and three (103) students drawn from the population of the study using simple random sampling technique. Two groups were used for this study; they are experimental and control groups. The instrument for data collection in this study was Osmosis Achievement Test (OAT). The items were questions from teacher- made test. Data collected from the questions were analysed using mean, standard deviation and ANOVA to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that students taught the concept of osmosis using laboratory practical exercise performed better than their counterparts taught using conventional method (lecture method). Male and female students of experimental group had higher mean achievement score than male and female of the control group. The mean retention of students in experimental group is higher than the control group. Retention score of male and female in experimental group is higher than the control group. In line with the findings of the study, the recommendations made which include among others that teachers should use laboratory practical exercise in teaching of osmosis and other practical topics in biology.