Effect of Integrating Theory with Practicals on Students’ Achievement in Biology

Abstract

It has been observed that students perform poorly in biology in the SSCE and other external examinations because of the theoretical method of teaching that dominate most classrooms. As a result of this, students lack the necessary process skills which is the ultimate goal of any scientific and technological development. It became pertinent therefore to investigate the effect of integrating theory with practicals on students achievement in biology. A quasi - experimental design was adapted for the investigation and intact classes were used for both the experimental and control groups. Two urban and two rural schools were randomly sampled from ninety four schools in the study area. A teacher made achievement test was used for data collection. Kuder-Richardson formula 21 was 0.37 for pre-test and 0.60 for post test, while the experts carried out face and content validations. Four research questions and three research hypotheses guided the study. Mean score was used to answer the research questions, while the t-test of independent mean and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to test the hypotheses. It was found that students who were taught biology through integrating theory with practical improved tremendously in their performance and acquisition of skills. It was therefore recommended that theoretical aspect of teaching biology should not be separated from practical activities and that efforts , should be made by the government to provide the necessary materials and equipment's needed for meaningful and functional scientific knowledge in our schools irrespective of the location.