Abstract:
The general purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Task Instructional Sheets (TISs) on academic achievement of mechanical craft students in technical colleges in Rivers State. Specifically, the study sought to: compare the mean achievement of students taught machining operations with TISs and students taught using conventional method; assess the difference in the mean interest scores of students taught machining operations with TISs and those taught using the conventional method; compare the difference in the mean retention of students taught machining operations with TISs and students taught using conventional teaching method and; determine the interaction effect of treatment and gender on students’ achievement in machining operations. The study was guided by four research questions and four null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. Adopting quasi-experimental approach, the study used entire population of 112 final year mechanical craft students in all the approved technical colleges in the State. Three instruments - Mechanical Craft Achievement Test (MCAT), Mechanical Craft Interest Inventory (MCII), and Retention Mechanical Craft Achievement Test (RMCAT) - were used in the study. Face validation of the instruments was accomplished by five experts. Kuder-Richard 20 (K–20) was used to determine the internal consistency of the instruments. The MCII and MCAT had coefficient of 0.83 and 0.90, respectively. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data collected on the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistics was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings among others included: Teaching with TISs materials was more effective in enhancing students’ achievement, interest, and retention in MECP, than the conventional method. There is no significant interaction effect of treatments given to students and their gender with respect to their mean achievement scores in machining operations Based on the findings, it was among others recommend that: TISs should regularly be used in teaching machining operations in technical colleges generally, and mechanical craft in particular.
