Effects of Mind-Mapping Instructional Approach on Senior Secondary School Biology Students’ Achievement in Evolution in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of Mind Mapping Instructional Approach (MMIA) on senior secondary school biology students' academic achievement in evolution in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. A pretest posttest control quasi experimental design was adopted for the study. Two research questions were answered and two research hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Simple random sampling was used to select two secondary schools in Minna Metropolis which were randomly assigned to experimental and control group. A total of 105 senior secondary school II students consisting of 56 females and 49 males were used for the study. The biology achievement test in evolution (BATE) developed by the researcher was the instrument used for data collection. Itwas validated and tested for reliability using Crombach alpha. A reliability coefficient of 0.76 was obtained. Pretest was given to the two groups before the treatment to know their entry behavior. Posttest was given to the two groups after being taught evolution concepts for four consecutive periods to test for their academic achievement. The results shows that the group taught using MMIA (experimental group) performed better than students taught with the conventional lecture method which is the control group. On the gender related issue, there was no significant difference in the mean scores of male and female students taught using MMIA. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the use of MMIA should be encouraged in teaching and learning of biology and other subjects because of its positive effects on boosting students’ academic achievement.