ABSTRACT

The study investigated the effects of concept mapping and computer assisted instructional strategies on academic achievement of secondary school Biology students in Anambra state., Nigeria. The research was guided by five research questions and five hypotheses. The study adopted a pretest, posttest quasi experimental design. The population of the study consisted of 27,938 2020/2021 academic session of Senior Secondary Two (SS II) students in Anambra State, made up of 13,609 male students and 14,329 female students. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting three schools from Onisha Education Zone of Anambra State and simple random sampling technique by balloting was used in selecting the schools that formed the experimental groups and control group. The study sampled a total of 105 students. 69 students made up the experimental groups while the control group was made up of 36 students. One validated researcher made instrument (Researcher Made Biology Achievement Test (RMBAT)) with reliability coefficients of 0.80 was used for data collection. The research questions were answered by descriptive statistics; mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistic at p< 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed a significant difference between the achievement of the experimental groups and control group in favour of the experimental groups. It also revealed that there was no significant difference in academic achievement of male and female students taught Biology in the experimental groups which implied that the use of concept mapping and computer assisted instructional strategies are clearly independent of gender. Base on the findings, it was recommended that concept mapping and computer assisted instructional strategies should be used in teaching Biology especially in the area covered at the course of this work at senior secondary school level. It was also recommended that professional bodies like Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) and research centers like Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) should incorporate the use of concept mapping and computer assisted instructional strategies that give students participatory opportunity in the Biology curriculum at secondary school level of education.