Effect of Simulation Game on Students’ Achievement and Interest in Soil Erosion Management in Agriculture in Junior Secondary School in Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine the effect of simulation game on students’ achievement and interest in soil erosion management in agriculture in JSS in Imo state, Nigeria. Fourteen research questions were answered by the study while nine hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study was carried out in Imo state, Nigeria. The study adopted quasi-experimental design of pre-test, post-test and post-post test approach. Population for the study was 22,800 JSS 11 students from 285 secondary schools. Sample for the study was 104, comprising three intact classes of 32 students each for intact class 1 and 2 (Treatment groups), 40 students for intact class 3 (control group) all from three secondary schools chosen. Instruments for data collection were; (1) Multiple choice test items in soil erosion menace, prevention and control. (2) Interest inventory questionnaire. The test and the questionnaire were each validated by three experts. Split-half technique and spearman Brown correlation method were used to determine the stability of the test (using pre-test items) which yielded a co-efficient value of 0.89. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was determined through the use of Cronbach alpha method which yielded a co-efficient value of 0.80. The tests were administered on the students in their various schools. The interest inventory questionnaire was administered on the treatment groups in their various schools. Data collected were analyzed using Weighted mean, percentage score and sign test to answer research questions; standard deviation was used to determine the spread of respondents around the mean of the interest inventory questionnaire items; t-test statistic was used to test hypothesis of no significant difference at probability ≤ 0.05 while spearman rank order of correlation was used to determine the correlation of the scores of students exposed to the experiment. It was found out from the study that, the use of the simulation games in teaching students soil erosion management resulted in higher learning achievement and retention than lecture method of instruction; the two games were very effective in learning soil erosion management, but the model game was slightly more result oriented with the students’ academic achievement; students taught soil erosion management through soil erosion card game expressed slight higher interest (0.10) in their game than similar students taught same through soil erosion model game but this difference is not statistically significant when compared with the interest in soil erosion model game. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that Teachers of agriculture in JSS should make use of the findings of this study to improve the teaching of soil component of the agriculture curriculum to their students to enhance their learning achievement and interest in agriculture; the findings of this study should be made available to National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) for implementation by directing colleges of education (COE) to include the games as one of the material resources for training teachers of agriculture on the use of soil erosion model game and soil erosion card game for their professional efficiency in teaching soil erosion management to their students in Junior Secondary School (JSS).