Effects of Material And Non-Material Reinforcers On Academic Performance Of Girls On Health Science In The Senior Secondary Schools In Abia State

Abstract

This study examined effects of material and non-material reinforcers on academic performance of Abia State Senior Secondary Schools girls on health science. As a quasi-experimental study, 120 SS II students were selected from six secondary schools located in the three Educational zones of the state. From each zone, two schools were selected using stratified random sampling. The 240 students were divided into three groups of 80 students each. That is, 80 to the material reinforcer group, 80 to the non-material reinforcer and 80 to the control group. The lessons developed on health science were content validated and the reliability was established at 0.86 coefficient index. The students in the material reinforcer, non-material reinforcer and control group were taught differently according to the specification of the study. Before the treatment, pre-test were conducted and after the teaching exercises, post-test were conducted. The results of the tests calculations based on ANOVA, and z-test indicated that three hypotheses were rejected and one was accepted. Some of these findings were made; that the mean scores of students materially reinforced and students that were non-materially reinforced differ significantly, meaning that the former had higher achievement score more than the later and the mean scores of students taught using material reinforcement differ significantly from the control group. Based on the findings and conclusions, some recommendations made; to ensure good improvement in the students’ performance in health science, teachers should always consider it necessary to use material reinforcers in teaching their students and that government should always provide these tangible materials for the teachers to use in teaching health science.