EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND TEAM TEACHING STRATEGIES’ COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN BASIC SCIENCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
ABSTRACT
The goal of this study is to see how exposure to experiential versus team teaching based instruction affects student test scores. The researcher wanted to know how different demographic characteristics affected students’ achievement in different teaching methods.
The researcher assessed achievement by administering a pre and post test at the start and end of the semester. A demographic questionnaire was used by the researcher to collect demographic information on the participants.
The study’s objectives were to determine the effects of the experiential teaching method on student achievement and the effects of the team teaching method on student achievement. The results showed that both methods increased achievement, with the team teaching method increasing the most.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The study’s context
Science education in Nigeria dates back to before the country’s independence. It is the education provided to individuals in order for them to appreciate their surroundings and become useful to themselves and society at large. According to Anegbe and Adeoye (2006), science is taught to Nigerian children beginning in primary school.
The goal is for the learner to develop an interest in science, learn science, ‘do’ science, and effectively contribute to the nation’s scientific and technological development. At the primary level of education, the learner is introduced to the fundamentals of science.
The title The Universal Basic Education (UBE) program introduced basic education into the Nigerian educational system. UBE is a reformed program in Nigeria’s basic education delivery system (from primary one to junior secondary three), designed to reinforce the implementation of the National Policy on Education (NPE) in order to provide greater access and ensure quality learning across the federation, as it is free and compulsory (Adomeh, Arhedo & Omoike, 2007).
The UBE program is divided into three levels, which are as follows: lower basic education (primary 1-3), middle basic education (primary 4-6), and upper basic education (junior secondary school (JSS) 1-3).
Following the Federal Government of Nigeria’s announcement of a 9-year free and compulsory basic education structure covering primary and junior secondary school, the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) has put strategies in place to restructure and realign school curricula for the 9-year basic education.
Obioma (2006) A total of 19 curricula have been developed to cover the Lower Basic (years 1-3), Middle Basic (years 4-6), and Upper Basic (JSS) (years 7-9).
Basic Science and Technology is a core and mandatory subject in the new curriculum. The subject is taught to students at the lower basic level as Basic Science and Technology, and at the middle basic level as Basic Science. However, at the upper basic level, the subject is presented to students as two distinct entities: Basic Science and Basic Technology.
According to Obioma, Adeniyi, Lawal, Odumuh, Ikegulu, Nwabueze, and Chijioke (2008), the goal of separating the two concepts is to emphasize and strengthen technology and entrepreneurship. These science concepts, however, cannot be fully realized unless learners have a solid foundation in Basic Science.
The overall goals of the Basic Science and Technology curriculum, according to NERDC (2007), are to enable students to:
-Increase interest in science;
-Acquire fundamental scientific knowledge and skills.
-Utilize scientific knowledge and skills to address societal needs;
-Take advantage of science’s numerous career opportunities;
-Get ready for further studies;
The aforementioned objectives are intended, among other things, to prepare upper basic students for the study of science at the senior secondary school level. This could be one of the reasons why the Basic Science and Technology curriculum is organized in a spiral fashion, beginning with the simplest and progressing to the most complex. According to Hamza and Mohammed (2011), it was designed to keep the learner’s attention. This assertion, however, has yet to be proven.
realized in light of research reports revealing low student achievement in secondary school science
Some of the factors responsible for students’ low achievement and lack of interest in science have been identified by science educators. Solutions have been proposed, but the problem has yet to be solved, according to Dajal and Rinmark (2002) and Danjuma (2009).
The problem is most likely related to the students’ inability to develop an interest in learning basic science, which is the foundation of science in Nigeria. This is because the Basic Science objectives are unlikely to be met unless learners’ interests are developed and sustained.
If this is the case, achieving the objectives of senior secondary school science, whose prerequisite is Basic Science, may be difficult. For meaningful achievement to occur, students’ interest in science must be developed and maintained.
According to Obodo (2002), interest is the attraction that forces or compels a child to respond to a specific stimulus. It could also be defined as an individual’s attitude toward a specific object or activity. It means that a child will develop an interest in any object or activity that he finds appealing or stimulating. As a result, in a classroom setting, the learner will be attentive only if the instruction is of interest to the learner.
According to Trumper (2006), interest is the preference to engage in certain types of activities over others. A child usually performs classroom activities in the order of preference. The child enjoys doing what he or she is interested in. In most cases, the learning that occurs as a result of participating in such activities is permanent.
Interest is an important aspect of the learning process because it is a critical factor in instilling the correct knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that the curriculum seeks to achieve. It aids in the maintenance of concentration, purpose, and commitment to learning, as well as cooperation with the teacher in the learning process.
process. It is therefore the teacher’s responsibility to identify and employ appropriate learning strategies that will pique students’ interest in learning. According to Alao and Adeniyi (2009), the teacher can motivate students to learn in the following ways:
-By identifying and meeting the needs of students.
-recognizing their success, no matter how minor.
-By making the classroom more student-friendly, students will be more eager to participate in classroom activities, making learning more interesting and enjoyable.
-recognizing and respecting students’ points of view, thus boosting and developing confidence
“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them,” Aristotle once said. In today’s schools, a variety of teaching methods are used, including informal instruction, direct instruction, inquiry-based learning, cooperative learning, and information processing strategies.
Agricultural Education (K-12 and college) has progressed through various teaching methods and now includes more than ever before (Newsome, Wardlow, & Johnson, 2005). Informal instruction is exactly what it sounds like: informal. It is more akin to a conversation between a student and a teacher in order to acquire and distribute information.
Direct instruction is a more formal method of teaching that includes team teaching. Some teachers almost exclusively employ this method. It enables teachers to cover a large amount of material in a short period of time, with little to no hands-on work for students. Critical thinking, problem-based learning, hands-on learning, and experiential learning are all names for inquiry-based learning.
This method is gaining popularity because it is highly adaptable and can be tailored to students of all levels. Cooperative learning accomplishes tasks in small groups. Student ability varies across groups, and teachers must monitor the groups to ensure students stay on task. Finally, information processing strategies are sometimes used to help students remember key facts. Graphic organizers, mind maps, and story webs are examples of this method.
Education during the industrial revolution was more concerned with teaching and training students for a vocation than with knowledge and retention of multiple subjects (Kliebard, 1995). Agricultural classrooms have retained some of the vocational type as a result of this revolution and teaching style.
formerly taught in schools hands-on activities (Newsome, Wardlow, & Johnson, 2005). These vocational, hands-on skills help students develop both psychomotor skills and ways to perform various procedures; this was a departure from previously taught technical and scientific principles. Although there is no one best method of teaching, it is beneficial to investigate the more popular ones in depth.
The experiential teaching method is also known as the hands-on or problem-based teaching method. “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand,” says an old adage about experiential learning.
(Confucius). According to David Kolb (1984), an educational theorist, knowledge is gained through personal and environmental experiences. The majority of experiential teaching dimensions are analysis, initiative, and immersion, whereas other forms of academic learning are focused on structure and reproductive learning (Ewing and Whittington, 2007). Experiential teaching attempts to create an experience from which the student can learn (Day, Raven, & Newman, 1998).
Most schools and universities now offer classes that include a laboratory component. This lab component is a type of experiential teaching; everything done in the lab, from watching videos to handling livestock, is an extension of what is covered in team teaching.
According to research, when students are physically connected to the material and more physically active in the classroom, they retain more information (Burris, Garton, & Terry, 2005; Hancock & Wingert, 1996). Experiential learning enhances students’ ability to think critically. Critical thinking, the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion, is important in addition to increased retention (Elder, 2007). Finding the most effective way to teach students may increase their rate of achievement.
Smith, Wardlow, and Johnson’s (2001) study comparing team teaching versus experiential teaching method yielded inconclusive results. There are mixed results from both sides, with some claiming that experiential and team-based teaching increase retention. Memory is the ability to recall or recognize what has been learned or experienced; retention is the ability to recall or recognize what has been learned or experienced.
A study conducted by Newsome, Wardlow, and Johnson (2005) discovered that different teaching methods have different effects on schools. According to this study, teachers are the best judges of which method to use. This may be true in some classrooms, but when teaching college level courses, teachers will encounter a wide range of students, and it would be beneficial to know the most effective way to teach specific groups of students in order to increase retention.
The comparative effectiveness of experiential learning and team teaching strategies on academic achievement of students in basic science in secondary schools in obio akpor local government area in rivers state will be the focus of this study.
Statement of the Issue
Previous research has been inconclusive as to which method increases achievement the most. In this case, success is determined by the post-test score as compared to the pre-test score. Some students benefit from listening to a team teach and then being tested on the material. Other students cannot fully comprehend a technique or idea until they have firsthand experience with it.
Using college-age students in elective and/or major courses may result in a different rate of achievement. This statement is supported by the fact that college students have the ability to select the classes they wish to take. When students choose which classes to take, they usually choose classes that interest them. Using only one class reduces generalizability but also decreases variability. Having just one
The use of one professor and one set of students limits the study’s generalizability to the student population, but it also limits the extraneous variability introduced when comparing “achievement” across multiple instructors.
The Study’s Goal
The goal of this study was to see how exposure to lab-based versus team-teaching-based instruction affected student academic achievement. The following were the study’s objectives:
Determine the effects of the experiential teaching method on students’ Basic Science achievement; Determine the effects of the team teaching based teaching method on students’ Basic Science achievement;
Determine whether the teaching methods had a positive or negative impact on student achievement.
Determine whether demographic characteristics influence achievement for either teaching method.
Question for Research
What are the effects of the experiential teaching method on students’ achievement in Basic Science? What are the effects of the team teaching based teaching method on students’ achievement in Basic Science? Which of the teaching methods had a positive or negative effect on students’ achievement?
Is there an effect of demographic characteristics on achievement for either teaching method?
Hypotheses
H01: There will be no difference in teaching methods and their effect on achievement rate. Curriculum taught through experiential methods will yield the same results as curriculum taught through team teachings.
H02: Students taught using the experiential teaching method outperform students taught using the team teaching method in terms of achievement.
The Importance of Research
Data was collected on the Basic Science class’s pretest and posttest to determine which teaching method had the greatest effect on this population’s achievement.
Choosing the best teaching method is critical to being a good teacher/professor/educator (Doyle and Carter, 1987). The findings of this study may help educators find the most effective method of pedagogy, as well as explain why educators should stick with their current method of instruction, change it, or use a combination of methods depending on the curriculum.
The findings of this study will be added to previous research to determine the most effective teaching method when the goal is to improve a learner’s retention of material. The study should also point the way to additional research that should be conducted to aid in the discovery of the most effective teaching method. Finding the best/most effective teaching method will assist students in performing to the best of their ability in a society driven by rate of achievement.
Study Scope and Limitations
This study will be conducted in the Obio Akpor local government area of Rivers state to compare the effectiveness of experiential learning and team teaching strategies on academic achievement of students in basic science in secondary schools.
The sample size was one of the study’s major limitations. The population was small and specialized. When using multiple classes and teachers, there were too many uncontrolled variables. The population’s demographic characteristics were very similar: mostly white, middle to upper class socioeconomic status, and students. This study cannot be generalized to Basic Science students from other classes or schools, or to general students from other schools, due to these limitations.
Term Definitions
Achievement rates (or rate of achievement)- Achievement rates indicate how effective an institution is at assisting students in achieving their learning objectives. The rates are divided into two categories: ‘achievement rates (known outcomes)’ and ‘achievement rates (all completers).’ The proportion of students who complete their learning program and obtain a qualification is defined as the achievement rate (known outcomes).
Achievement rates (all finishers) are the same as achievement rates (known outcomes), but they also include cases where exams were taken but the results were unknown. A student receiving 15/15 on the test will be considered to have achieved 100 percent achievement in the context of this study.
When students are given information in an active manner, this is referred to as active teaching. Experiential learning, field studies, laboratory work, and so on.
Critical thinking is the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information in order to reach a conclusion or answer. (Elder, 2007)
Teaching through direct experience is known as experiential learning. When students are put in situations where they must think and interact, they learn in and from a real-world setting. Involves active student participation in the planning, development, and execution of learning activities, is shaped by real-world problems and pressures, and occurs most effectively outside the classroom. Cornell University (Cornell, 2009)
Team teaching involves little interaction with students and is based on talking or showing. The purpose of the journey along the linear pathway appears to be concerned with the destination- that is, students’ acquisition of specific knowledge” (Wassermann, 1994).
When students are given information in a passive manner, this is referred to as passive teaching. For example, lecturing, reading, watching, and so on.
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EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND TEAM TEACHING STRATEGIES’ COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN BASIC SCIENCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS