BLENDED LEARNING INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY AND JUNIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN BASIC SCIENCE IN OBALGA, RIVERS STATE

Abstract

Efforts by stakeholders in education towards ensuring that Nigeria students show interest and concern in science cannot be proven to have yielded the much-expected results, as the quantum of students still performs poorly in science. This problem may have arisen from several factors including the teaching methods used by the Basic Science teachers at the basic level. This study investigates the effectiveness of the blended learning technique and lecture method on students’ academic achievement in Basic Science in Junior Secondary Schools in Obio/Akpor LGA Rivers State. It embraced the quasi-experimental design. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. 216 Basic 8 (J.S.S. 2) students in four intact classes of two randomly selected Secondary Schools in OBALGA were used for the study. Two intact classes served as the blended learning technique group while the other two intact classes were the lecture method group. The instruments include the energy learning program (ELP) and the Students’ Achievement Test in Energy (SATE). SATE is a 50-item multiple-choice objective test. SATE-1 was administered as a pre-test and SATE-2 as a post-test. Data obtained were analyzed using mean and ANCOVA and the results indicated that the blended learning strategy significantly improved students’ achievement better than the lecture method. It was therefore recommended among others that teachers should incorporate a blended learning strategy in teaching basic science to students to captivate them to engage in learning and also enhance their success in the subject.