Main Article Content
Concept -Mapping, Students' Locus of Control and Gender as Determinants of Nigerian High School Students' Achievement in Biology
Abstract
This study investigated the relative effectiveness of concept mapping and lecture methods on the academic achievement of Nigerian High School Studies in biology using gender and locus of control as intervening variables. This study made use of a 2 x 2 x 2 non-randomised control group, pretest - posttest quasi-experimental factorial design. The sample consisted of two hundred and forty (240) senior secondary two students of which 120 were males and 120 were females.
Two instruments; Biology Achievement Test (BAT) and Locus of Control Scale (LOCS) were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
The results show that the concept-mapping strategy is more effective in enhancing students' achievement in biology than the lecture method. Also, locus of control was found to have a significant main effect on the treatment with internals having more adjusted mean scores than the externals. However, there was no significant main effect of gender on the treatments. Also, the study recorded no significant two-way and three-way interactions of the independent and dependent variables.
Based on these findings, the investigator is recommending the use of concept-mapping in schools as an effective means of achieving high performance in high school biology. Also, students should be counselled, especially those with external locus of control to re-orientate themselves and change to the internal locus of control which is positively linked with high performance.
Finally, teachers are enjoined to use the concept - mapping strategy in teaching both the male and female students because this method has been found to be effective in the teaching of students, irrespective of their gender and locus of control.
(IFE Psychologia (2002) 10(2), 98-110)
Two instruments; Biology Achievement Test (BAT) and Locus of Control Scale (LOCS) were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
The results show that the concept-mapping strategy is more effective in enhancing students' achievement in biology than the lecture method. Also, locus of control was found to have a significant main effect on the treatment with internals having more adjusted mean scores than the externals. However, there was no significant main effect of gender on the treatments. Also, the study recorded no significant two-way and three-way interactions of the independent and dependent variables.
Based on these findings, the investigator is recommending the use of concept-mapping in schools as an effective means of achieving high performance in high school biology. Also, students should be counselled, especially those with external locus of control to re-orientate themselves and change to the internal locus of control which is positively linked with high performance.
Finally, teachers are enjoined to use the concept - mapping strategy in teaching both the male and female students because this method has been found to be effective in the teaching of students, irrespective of their gender and locus of control.
(IFE Psychologia (2002) 10(2), 98-110)
