ABSTRACT
This study was designed to determine the effect of Conceptual Change Instructional Strategy on Achievement of Junior Secondary School Basic Science Students’ in Anambra State. Four research questions were posed and three null hypotheses were formulated. Descriptive survey and quasi experimental designs were utilized. 640 Junior Secondary School 3 students randomly drawn from a total population of 25,652 JSS3 students from all the 259 public secondary school in Anambra State were used as sample in the first stage of this work. Out of the 640 JSS3 students, a subset of 148 JSS3 students in 4 intact classes in two schools drawn through purposive sampling were used as sample in the second stage of the study. Students’ Alternative Conception Achievement Test in Biology (SACATB) was the instrument used for this study. Data from the study were analyzed using Frequency, Percentage, Bar Chart, Standard Deviation, Independent t-test, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistics. Results show that Junior Secondary School 3 students in Anambra State holds Alternative Conceptions in all the twenty items derived from the Biological concept that were studied. There was no significant difference in the Alternative Conceptions between students in urban and rural areas. Also, students with Alternative Conceptions exposed to Conceptual Change Teaching Strategy significantly achieved better and retained more knowledge than the students exposed to Traditional Teaching Method. Recommendations were made among which was the need for Biology curriculum to be Conceptual Change oriented and interrelatedness between concepts explained through concept mapping, discussions, cognitive conflict and instructional analogies and other Conceptual Change Strategies should be used to enhance Biology teaching and learning
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Declaration ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgements v
Table of Contents vi
List of Tables ix
List of Figures x
Abstract xi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background
to the Study 1
1.2 Statement
of the Problem 8
1.3 Purpose of
the Study 9
1.4 Research
Questions 10
1.5 Hypotheses 10
1.6 Significance
of the Study 11
1.7 Scope of the Study 13
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 14
2.1. Conceptual
Framework 14
2.1.1 Concept of
biology 14
2.1.2 Alternative
conception in physiology 15
2.1.3 Teaching for
conceptual change 20
2.1.4 Conceptual
change instructional model 22
2.1.5 Types of
conceptual change 22
2.1.6 Influence of
location on students’ achievement in biology 26
2.1.7 Effect of
learning strategies on retention in biology 27
2.2 Theoretical
Framework 28
2.2.1 Learning
theories and cognitive views 28
2.2.2 Constructivists’
view and learning 29
2.2.3 Piaget’s
cognitive theory 30
2.2.4 Posner,
Strike, Hewson and Gertzog theory
of conceptual change 31
2.3 Related
Empirical Studies 32
2.4 Summary of
Literature Review 37
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 40
3.1 Design of the Study 40
3.2 Area of the
Study 41
3.3 Population
of the Study 42
3.4 Sample and
Sampling Techniques 42
3.5 Instrument
for Data Collection 43
3.6 Validation
of Instrument 44
3.7 Reliability
of the Instruments 44
3.8 Method of
Data Collection 44
3.8.1 Experimental
treatment procedure 46
3.8.2 Control of
extraneous variables 48
3.9 Method of
Data Analysis 49
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION 50
4.1 Results 50
4.2 Major
Findings of the Study 60
4.3 Discussion
of Findings 61
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
AND RECOMMENDATIONS 65
5.1 Summary of
the Study 65
5.2 Conclusion 67
5.3 Implications
of Findings 68
5.4 Recommendations 71
5.5 Limitation
of the Study 72
5.6 Suggestion
for Further Studies 72
References 73
Appendices 78
LIST OF TABLES
4.1: Frequency and percentage of alternative
conceptions given by
junior secondary school students in
biological concepts 51
4.2: Percentage
responses in alternative conception given by JSSS in biological
concepts in urban and rural locations 54
4.3: Mean
achievement scores of students taught using CCTS and TTM 56
4.4: Mean
retention scores of students exposed to conceptual change
teaching strategy
and traditional teaching method 57
4.5: Independent
t-test of mean significant difference between the mean
percentages of
alternative conceptions in biological concepts
identified among
urban and rural students 58
4.6: ANCOVA
of mean achievement scores of students taught with
conceptual change
and traditional method 59
4.7: ANCOVA of mean retention scores
of students exposed to conceptual change teaching strategy and
traditional method 60
LIST
OF FIGURES
4.1: Percentage of various alternative
conceptions given by junior
secondary school in biological concept. 52
4.2: Percentage
of various alternative conceptions given by junior
secondary school
in Urban and Rural areas. 55
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Nations around the world,
especially the ones becoming economically industrialized like Nigeria, are
trying very hard to become scientifically and technologically developed. The world
is becoming scientific and all important operations of life depends greatly on
science. There has been worldwide recognition of the importance of science and
science education in national development and this has found a central place in
the curricula of schools at all levels (Ogbonna, 2007).
One of the challenges facing science education is
scientific language. Many students often feel intimidated by the “Scientific
language”, and this hinders their learning of science concepts. Many students
are discouraged by the so called scientific “jargon” and the seemingly complex
sentence construction. Students studying science in other languages like
Chinese, French and German experience the same kind of complexity that confuses
students learning science in English (Tan & Soong, 2006). The difference
between the scientific language and the language used in the everyday life is
one of the main reasons lying beneath the emergence of Alternative Conceptions
(Kurt, Ekici, Aktas & Aksu, 2013).
Biology is one of the science subjects that is offered at
the senior secondary school level in Nigeria. Biology is the study of life
sciences. It is a very important science subject and a major requirement for
further learning of a number of science related professional courses like
medicine, agriculture, pharmacy, nursing and biotechnology. Biology forms part
of every area of human development, and plays an important role in educational
advancement. However, the issue remains that in most secondary schools in
Nigeria there is high rate of failure in the subject.
The Chief Examiners Report of West African Examination
Council (WAEC, 2006), posited that, there is poor achievement in senior
secondary school certificate examination in Biology in 2004, 2005 and 2006 (WAEC,
2006). Also, the Chief Examiners Report of National Examination Council (NECO,
2015) shows that Nov/Dec general certificate examination (GCE) has increased
number of cases of examination malpractices over the previous year and poor
performance in Biology compared to English language and Mathematics. The result
showed 43.73% in Biology at credit level passes 62.55% in English language and
68.30% in Mathematics at credit passes respectively (NECO,2015). Also, the Chief
Examiners Report on Biology, posited that there is poor performance in the
subject in 2009 to 2013 especially in physiology based topics eg.
Cell/respiration (which ranked the least in popularity of questions attempted
by students in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WAEC,
2013).
Researchers have been demonstrating that students
experience difficulties in learning and constructing their cognitive structures
about the subject of systems, which is among the healthy life characteristics
of living things (Cimer, 2012). Physiology is a sub-discipline of Biology; Its
focus is on how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells and biomolecules carry
out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system (Hall,
2011).
Some researchers in science education are of the view
that one of the reasons students often find science concepts difficult to
understand is the intuitive concepts about the natural world that students
brought with them to the science classroom (Wikipedia, 2016).
In Anambra State, the language commonly spoken is Igbo
language and the people are mostly traders and Christians with many alternative
conceptions. The people believe so much in the creator God as the creator of
everything, even children. This is very conflicting with science evolution
concept. They believe in reincarnation and claims that ogbanje spirit rather
than sickle cell anaemia is responsible for death of children after birth. They
believe that traits run through the blood and finds it difficult to accept the
concept of gene. That is why they say “it runs in their blood”. This
epistemology is handed over from parents to offsprings. They believe that women
are responsible for the sex of their unborn babies, not men. This is contrary
to science conception. One will begin to think that these alternative
conceptions in this area is responsible for the poor achievement in Biology in
external examination. People in the rural area seem to have more alternative
conceptions than those in the urban area and this makes their achievements
poorer.
This prior knowledge can be of great significance.
Cognitive psychology has revealed that there has to be a threshold of prior
knowledge that ought to serve as an anchor for incoming information for
learning to be effective (Mbajiorgu, Ezechi & Idoko, 2007). Depending on
the nature of this prior conception, the interpretation of incoming information
may either be wrong or right, or even a hybrid. Because physiological concepts
like respiration involves complex processes which differs from single –cell
organisms to animals and plants. The fact that these processes contain numerous
concepts which are linked with one another causes the physiological concepts
becomes much more complex. This makes learning of these concepts more
difficult. It is emphasized in the literature that students fail to structure
their mental framework to concretize abstract aspects and to establish a link
with their everyday experiences related to this complex structure (Tasdemir
& Demirbas, 2010).
Students assimilate the ideas presented to them in
Biology classroom into their existing concepts resulting in what can be
referred to as misconceptions. According to Mbajiorgu as cited in Anidu (2013),
misconceptions are wrong conceptions that arise in the course of science
instruction. The learner may misconstrue what the teacher is trying to pass
across to him or her. Misconception leads to Alternative Conception. Vosniadou,
Ioannides, Dimitrakopoulou and Papademetriou cited in Mbajiorgu et al. (2007) claimed that the
interpretation of scientific ideas by children is often constrained by a few
entrenched presuppositions. Anidu (2013) is of the view that many students hold
some Alternative Conceptions in many phenomena in Biology.
The term Alternative Conception refers to the ideas that
people have which are inconsistent with scientifically accepted ideas (Taber,
2012). Alternative Conceptions originate from preconception or
prior-conceptions. Mbajiorgu as cited in Anidu (2013) maintained that
Pre-conception are ideas that have not attained the status of scientific
correct conception prior to an instruction period. The concept that children hold are seen as
themselves embedded within intuitive theories that require substantial
restructuring if they are to resemble those of adults or scientist (Smith,
2007). These naïve or intuitive theories learnt early in life are incredibly
hard to extinguish; even in the face of conflicting information that people may
later be exposed to. The theoretical bases of this phenomenon can be understood
in terms of Piaget’s writing, cited in Longfield (2009), on cognitive
disequilibrium. According to Piaget, cognitive disequilibrium is such a
discomforting state that we try hard to stay in equilibrium by not taking in
any new information that conflicts with our present worldview.
In the present study, Alternative Conceptions denotes all
forms of students understanding that are not aligned with the understanding of
the scientist as it confers intellectual respect to students’ informal ideas
which are viewed as explanations constructed by students through their own
experiences. Instructional strategies that can take these alternative frameworks
into account, can lead to conceptual reorganization and the construction of
formal scientific conceptions.
One question one might ask is what are the causes of
students’ poor achievement in Biology?
Okoro (2011) identified lack of interest and the use of traditional
teaching methods such as lecture method as the major cause of students’ poor
achievement in Biology while according to Jenson (2008), the use of innovatory
teaching methods enhances achievement and promotes students’ interest in
Biology.
The findings of the content analysis process
by some researchers such as Tom, Coetzee and Hynes (2014), have revealed
factors influencing the academic performances in Biology. They concluded that
the main factors identified were Biology science content, characteristic of
educators, educational strategies, resources and biological science assessment.
Opara (2011) indicated that students’ performance in Biology in the external
examinations is poor. The poor performance of students in Biology in external
examination is connected to the use of traditional method (lecture/expository
method) in teaching secondary school Biology (Isiugo–Abanihe, Ifeoma &
Tandi, 2010). The traditional/conventional teaching method often used by
teachers in teaching Biology include the lecture/expository method,
demonstration and direct instruction. These traditional methods of teaching
emphasize more on the transmittion of knowledge in a way that involves learning
by heart hence they have been described by some educators, as ineffective methods
of teaching Biology as well as other science subjects (Aniaku, 2012).The
conventional/traditional teaching method involves one-way flow of information /
knowledge from teacher to the learner and do not encourage process skill
acquisition needed for proper understanding of biological principles, concepts
and facts.
Guisti (2008) described these traditional
teaching methods as teacher-centered methods of learning because the teacher
and the educational authorities are considered as the custodians of knowledge
to be transferred to students, and as such decide how the knowledge transfer
takes place. The one-way flow of information in the traditional teaching method
makes students not to participate and unable to build significant knowledge in
the teaching and learning of Biology.
The shortcoming of these traditional teaching approaches
resulted in the continuous search for effective approaches of teaching and
learning Biology which resulted in the suggestions by some researchers for the
use of innovative teaching methods such as inquiry method, concept mapping,
simulations and games, constructivism, and problem based learning (Nwagbo,
2006). The innovative methods are considered as effective teaching methods that
can improve students’ achievement and interest in Biology. They are activity
based and characterized by students sharing some degree of responsibility in
decision making in their learning process. In the innovative teaching methods,
the teacher is seen as a guardian in the teaching and learning process and not
a custodian of knowledge hence these innovative teaching methods are described
as student-centered approaches to learning (Campbell, 2006).
A good number of researchers indicated that innovative paradigm
like constructivism, Conceptual Change Teaching Strategy are effective methods
for teaching Biology because they enhance much academic gains: they increase
students understanding of science concepts, principles and facts, enhances
students’ achievement and interest, encourages active participation of students
in the teaching and learning process and enables students to build significant
biological knowledge (Jenson, 2008, Opara, 2011 & Bybee, 2011). When
students understand concepts, and principles of a subject, knowledge of such a
subject can be retained and applied to a similar situation.
The constructivist model of learning, often referred to
as active learning, combines different techniques and learning theories such as
constructivism, bloom taxonomy, multiple intelligence, whole language learning
and accelerated learning (Onan, 2012). The heart of constructivism is that
learners actively participate in building their own knowledge and meaning from
their experiences (Williams & Chinn, 2009). By observing various things
around them, learners make sense out of things in particular learning
situations. The learning is adaptive as it integrates new knowledge with the
existing knowledge and allow for generation of innovative ideas.
Also, several studies reported in Duit (2009) revealed
that individuals are not simply passive learners but make sense of new
information based on their previous ideas and experiences. The result of such
learning is that learner’s knowledge is not always consistent with that of the scientist.
This is supported by Theory – theory which states that children naturally
attempt to construct theories to explain their observation (Berger, Kathleen
& Stassen, 2014). As all humans do, learners try to discover explanations
that help them understand their environment. They learn through their
experiences as well as through their observation of actions and behaviours of
other people (Gopnik, 2012).
Through their growth and development, children will
continue to develop intuitive theories reviewing and changing them as they come
across new results and observations (Gopnik, 2012). Indeed, how constructivist
approach has been employed in overcoming students’ Alternative Conceptions, has
been well recorded in the science education research literature. Several
studies monitoring learning outcomes are concerned in the idea of conceptual
change, namely: how individual conceptions change over time and are of
particular interest when these changes can lead to scientific understanding or
understanding more closely related to the scientific conception (Treagust,
2009).
In Junior Secondary School, Basic science curriculum is
used and the Biology concepts that are based on physiology are taught as
characteristic of living things namely: Respiration, Growth, Movement,
Excretion, Nutrition, Reproduction and Irritability. These Junior Secondary
School students leave the basic science classroom to Biology classroom in
senior secondary school. It has been noted that some of their Alternative
Conceptions are so entrenched, and are carried along from the Basic science
class into the Biology classroom. These Alternative Conceptions may impede new
construction of knowledge. It is possible that the poor performances reported
in Biology especially in the area of physiology may be linked to students’
misconceptions and preconceptions that are not properly handled in junior
secondary school level hence they are brought into the Biology classroom as
Alternative Conceptions.
Upon this background, the need arises to determine whether
the research subjects in this study hold some Alternative Conceptions in
physiology based topics, whether these Alternative Conception varies according
to locations, that is urban or rural and how the students’ Alternative
Conceptions can be reorganized into scientific conception through a Conceptual
Change Teaching Strategy to prepare the students for successful performance in
their senior secondary school Biology.
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Based on the WAEC’s Chief
Examiners Reports on Biology, it is clear that students’ achievement in the
subject is poor over the years. This poor achievement is more painful when one
considers the numerous innovative strategies being regularly developed by
experts to ensure effective teaching and learning of Biology at Nigerian
secondary school level. According to the Chief Examiners’ Report (WAEC 2004,
2005, 2006 and 2013, NECO, 2015) students' poor achievement can be linked to
students poor or wrong understanding about some biological phenomena. Also,
Mbajiorgu et al. (2007) posited, that
cognitive psychology has revealed that alternative conceptions are entrenched
and hinder the understanding of science concepts. And this has not been given
adequate attention in Nigeria.
The wrong conceptions and poor achievement in Biology are
likely therefore to be due to the students’ Alternative Conceptions in
biological phenomena. As a main focus in this study therefore, the researcher
intends to determine the effect of Conceptual Change Teaching Strategy on achievement
of junior secondary school basic science students in Anambra State.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study
was to determine the effect of Conceptual Change Instructional Strategy on Achievement
of Junior Secondary School Basic Science Students in Anambra State.
Specifically, the researcher sought to.
1. determine the Alternative Conceptions given by Junior Secondary
School Students in Biological concepts in Anambra State.
2. determine the Alternative Conceptions given by Junior Secondary
School Students in Biological concepts in both urban and rural locations.
3. find out the mean achievement scores of students with different
levels of Alternative Conceptions when exposed to Conceptual Change Teaching
Strategy and Traditional Teaching Method.
4. find out the difference in the mean retention scores of
students with different levels of Alternative Conceptions exposed to Conceptual
Change Teaching Strategy and traditional teaching method.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research
questions were formulated to guide the study.
·
what are the Alternative Conceptions given by
Junior Secondary School Students in biological concepts in Anambra State?
·
what are the Alternative Conceptions of
Junior Secondary School Students in biological concepts in both urban and rural
locations?
·
what are the mean Achievement scores of
students with different levels of Alternative Conceptions when taught using
Conceptual Change Teaching Strategy and Traditional Teaching Method?
·
What are the mean difference in retention
scores of students with different levels of Alternative Conceptions when
exposed to Conceptual Change Teaching Strategy and Traditional Teaching Method?
1.5 HYPOTHESES
The following null
hypotheses were formulated and were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
Ho1:
There
is no significant difference between the mean percentages of Alternative
Conceptions in biological concepts identified among urban and rural students.
Ho2:
There is no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of
students with different levels of Alternative Conceptions when taught with
Conceptual Change Teaching Strategy and Traditional Teaching Method.
Ho3:
There
is no significant difference in the mean retention scores of students with different
levels of Alternative Conceptions when exposed to Conceptual Change Teaching
Strategy and traditional teaching method.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study, if adequately disseminated
will hopefully benefit the nation, students, teachers, science educators,
textbook and instructional material publishers, professional bodies, other
researchers and curriculum developers.
To the nation, identification of students’ Alternative
Conception and effective teaching strategy for their reconstruction into
scientific conception will improve students’ achievement and interest in
Biology and increase the number of students who will go into the study of
important science courses like Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing and Agriculture.
These courses of study will promote the national development and also increase
the number of science professionals and literate citizen thereby enhancing the
economy through skilled manpower provision.
To the students, the result of the study will enhance the
students’ understanding of the correct conceptions in Biology based topics in
the junior secondary school basic science curriculum. This is possible because
the study would reveal the Alternative Conceptions held by these students to
their teachers. The teachers would in turn apply the use of conceptual change
instructional strategy to re-align these students Alternative Conceptions to
the correct conceptions as held by the scientists. This will enable them have solid foundation
in Biology when they enter into the senior secondary school class where Biology
will be studied as a subject.
To the teachers and science educators, the identification
of students’ Alternative Conceptions and consequently helping them through
adequate strategy to reconstruct them will help eliminate misconceptions
inherent among these students and revising their mental models where necessary
so as to ensure a better understanding of biological concepts, principles and
application. As the students pass out with good results in their SSSCE Biology
and the teacher having achieved the stated instructional objective, the credit
would go to the teacher and they would definitely derive joy and satisfaction
for a job well done.
To other researchers the findings and suggestions of this
study will create an insight for researches into students’ alternative
conceptions and effective strategies of improving students’ achievement and
interest in Biology. Also, it will serve as references to further studies of
this kind.
To curriculum developers, this study will reveal such
students’ Alternative Conceptions that are entrenched and pervasive that would
impede learning of new concept in both rural and urban areas and curriculum
planners would know what strategies to adopt in teacher education curriculum to
prepare the would- be Biology teacher to handle these problems.
To professional bodies like Science Teachers Association
of Nigeria (STAN) and Nigerian Academy of Science who have interest in science
education in Nigeria, they can organize workshops and seminars for science
teachers based on the findings of this study aimed at re-training the serving
teachers to equip them with effective strategies for impacting the desired
knowledge and reducing, possibly, eliminating students’ wrong conception in
Biology.
To science education textbook publishers, this work will
help them to encourage writers more on articles on Alternative Conceptions and Conceptual
Change Instructional Strategy. Also electronic media publishers like
researchgate and other journals can publish this work to enrich the body of
science.
The Nigerian curriculum;
9-3-4 system recommends student-centered pedagogical methods that can assist in
achieving the national educational goals; which include among others the
acquisition of appropriate skills, mental, physical and social abilities and competence
that will equip an individual to live in, and contribute to the development of
the society. (Isiugo-Abanihe et al.,
2010) There is no doubt therefore, that the identification of students’ alternative
conceptions will form the bases of the reconstruction process of most effective
student-centered pedagogical approaches.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The Study will be delimited
to finding the effect of conceptual change instructional strategy on achievement
of Junior Secondary School Basic Science Students Class III in Anambra State.
Rural and urban schools will be studied.
For the purpose of this study Onitsha Education Zone was
chosen purposively. This is because very few researches of this nature have
been carried out in this area and the area will allow the researcher easy
access to both urban and rural locations. The topics chosen for the study are
transmission of traits, dominant and recessive traits, digestion and absorption
of food in the body, what happens to absorbed food in the body (that is,
respiration and excretion), seeing things (accommodation), eye defects and
simple reflex action.
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