CONCEPT MAPPING TEACHING STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN BASIC SCIENCE

G.A. Wokocha

Department of Integrated Science

Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni

Port Harcourt, River State of Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the effect of concept mapping teaching strategy on students’ achievement and retention in Basic Science in Imo State. The subjects in the experimental group were taught Heat Transfer concepts using the Concept Mapping teaching strategy and their achievement and retention abilities were compared with that of the control group who were taught same concepts using lecture method. Pretest, posttest and postpose test data were analyzed to determine the group equivalence, achievement and retention abilities of the students in the experimental and the control groups. Three research questions were answered and three hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics ofP-value 0.05 and the following major findings were made: Students exposed to Concept Mapping teaching strategy i.e. (Experimental group) achieved significantly higher than their counterparts taught using lecture method. Students exposed to Concept Mapping instructional strategy retained the learnt concepts significantly better than their counterparts exposed to lecture instructional strategy; there was no significant difference in academic achievement between the male and female students exposed to Concept Mapping and lecture instructional strategies. Form the findings, some recommendations were made, one of which is that teachers of Basic science should use Concept Mapping instructional strategy in their teaching as it enhances achievement and retention among JSS3 students.

Key words: concept mapping, lecture method, achievement and retention.