EFFECTS OF GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL LABORATORY ACTIVITIES ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOLOGY
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of group and individual laboratory activities on students’ achievement in biology. The study was carried out in Nsukka L. G. A. of Enugu State. Two research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. A quasi-experimental design (pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group) was used. The sample size of the study comprised of sixty two (62) SS1 Biology students drawn from the population of study. In composing the sample size, the researchers used purposive sampling technique to choose two schools and a simple random sampling technique was used through balloting to choose an intact SS I class for the study. Two groups were used for this study. The instrument for data collection in this study was a Biology Achievement Test (BAT). The BAT was validated and a reliability estimate of 0.81 was established, using Kuder-Richardson formula (K-R 21). Data was collected from the field work and questions were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that students taught biology using group laboratory activity performed better than those taught using individual laboratory activity. Male students had higher mean achievement score than the female. In line with the findings of the study, the educational implications were stated and recommendations made, which include among others that biology teachers should use group laboratory activity in teaching biology practical.
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