EFFECTS OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF BEHAVIOURAL OBJECTIVES AND STUDY QUESTIONS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

This study sought to determine the effects of students’ prior knowledge of behavioural objectives and study questions on their academic performance and retention. The study is a quasi-experimental design using 3 x 2 factorial matrix. The population of the study is 1860 SS2 students who offer Government in the eight state secondary schools in the area.  The study was conducted at Government secondary school Owerri municipal council using two intact classes of 45 students each, giving a sample size of 90 students. Related literature was reviewed on three broad areas. Six research questions and six null hypotheses were formulated. The instruments used was the Government Achievement Test (GAT) and Government Retention Test (GRT). Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the research questions while analysis of covariance was used to test the hypotheses formulated at 5% confidence level. The results revealed that: providing students with a combination of behavioural objectives and study questions based on the topic to be taught led to better understanding of the topic and also enhanced performance and high retention. Providing students with prior knowledge of behavioural objectives and study questions irrespective of their personality variables led to enhanced performance and high retention. The implications of the findings for educational practice are that: teachers should make behavioural objectives and study questions available to students in written form and not only in lesson notes. Equally, the teachers should encourage students to read through the objectives and study questions before teaching commences. The study recommends that: teachers should employ prior knowledge of behavioural objectives and prior knowledge of study questions to enhance their teaching. Teacher education programme packages should include training in the use of prior knowledge of behavioural objectives and study questions.