DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

The results of this study indicated significant main effect of treatment on students‘

achievement and science process skills in Biology Practical. The result showed that the mean differences between the performance of students exposed to Bio Problem-solving Instructional Strategy (BioPSIS) and Gayford Problem-Solving Heuristics (GPSH) was not significant. Consequently, this implies that the two experimental strategies (BioPSIS and GPSH) were almost the same in their effectiveness on students‘ performance.

Students in the Modified Lecture Method (MLM) had the lowest mean score.

Performance of students in the Bio Problem-Solving Instructional Strategy could have resulted from their being taught with the instructional materials they themselves produced. The students‘ interaction with their own instructional materials during teaching and learning helped them to understand the biological concepts taught.

Similarly, the performance of the students‘ in Gayford Problem-Solving Heuristics could be due to the discussion the students had in their groups after the teacher‘s explanation on the theoretical aspects of the concepts studied and this encouraged information exchange during the team work. This finding supports the assertion that Gayford Problem-Solving Heuristics and other cooperative learning during problem solving improves content learning and is essential for knowledge development (Gayford, 1989; Gok and Silay, 2010). Gayford Problem-Solving Heuristics is a strategy that encourages students‘ participation in class learning in groups where members share ideas and information, seek additional relevant information and solve problems that confront them. The performance of students in the two experimental groups reveals the superiority of Problem Solving Strategy over the Modified Lecture Method (MLM).

This is in line with the findings of Okoye and Okechukwu, (2010); Olagunju and Chukwuka (2008); Raimi (2003); Akubuilo (2003, 2004) and Ikitde (1994) who observed that Problem Solving Instructional Strategy is very effective in teaching science concepts, thereby boosting students‘ performance and retention in Biology.

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The result also revealed that students in Bio Problem Solving Instructional Strategy had the highest mean score followed by Gayford Problem-Solving Heuristics and Modified Lecture Method with the least mean score in the development of science process skills.

The mean differences between the two experimental groups (BioPSIS and GPSH) could be due to the fact that students in Bio Problem-Solving Instructional Strategy were engaged in individual practical activities while solving the experimental problem as opposed to those in Gayford Problem-Solving Heuristics who were involved in group/co-operative practical activities. This therefore suggests that the involvement of students in individual practical work favoured them in the development of science process skills. This aided the students‘ performance in the science process skills test thereby making BioPSIS more effective in the development of science process skills in Biology Practical than GPSH and MLM. The advantage of BioPSIS over GPSH in the development of science process skills lies in the fact that BioPSIS promoted in the students the spirit of inquiry and creativity based on individual student‘s reflective thinking and not as suggested by group members, as well as their ability to follow systematically the application of the problem solving strategy on their own. This made the students to be actively involved in learning by ―doing‖ the practical work. It should be noted that in group practical work, not all students are usually involved in learning by

―doing‖. The work is produced by a few though all those in the group claim the credit of the experimental report. This situation cannot promote the development of science process skill. According to Ince Aka, Guven and Aydogdu (2010); Aktamus and Ergin (2007); Ige (2001) and Ikitde (1994) students‘ performance in these skills are enhanced when they are given opportunity to carry out individual practical activities. The use of BioPSIS in this study gave credence to their report.

Bio Problem-Solving Instructional Strategy afforded the students the opportunity to interact with the instructional materials they produced, as the stage of material production is a sub-step in the Problem Solving Model designed by the researcher (from which the Problem Solving Instructional Strategy was derived for this study). The use of instructional materials produced by students for teaching has been found to greatly improve students‘ development of science process skills and achievement. This finding

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is in line with Akubuilo (2003) who reported that students‘ performance was greatly enhanced when they used the instructional materials they produced themselves for practical activities. Students high performance using BioPSIS could also have been due to the excitement and enthusiasm students showed when they used the instructional materials they produced for the practical activities and also as a result of the newness of the strategy. This result corroborates the submission of (Olagunju and Ojo, (2006);

Agommuoh and Nzewi, (2003); Akubuilo (2003) and Ehikhamenor (2003) that students would learn more if engaged in significant and appealing activities. In addition, students‘ high performance could have resulted from their ability to adopt a number of steps as in the Problem Solving Model (Figure 3.1) which afforded the students the opportunity to learn through personal experience and connect new information gained during the cause of lesson delivery to what they already know. Although the students in Bio Problem Solving Instructional Strategy did better in the development of science process skills than Gayford Problem-Solving Heuristics and lastly the Modified Lecture Method, the Gayford Problem-Solving Heuristics which emphasized group and co-operative practical work can also enhance students academic performance especially in situation with large class sizes where instructional materials may not be sufficient for individual practical work

Students‘ poor performances both in achievement and science process skill in the Modified Lecture Method lay credence to the reports of many researchers (Obiekwe, 2008; and Udogu, Ifeakor and Njelita, 2007) who found that the use of this mode of teaching which is teacher-centred does not make students get or become engaged in activities involving manipulation of equipment and materials and that teacher-centred instruction is negatively associated with student achievement in science (Nwagbo, 2006;Von Secker and Lissitz, 1999). Furthermore, Emeke and Adegoke (2006) found that students exposed to learner- centred instruction showed superiority over students who were taught by teachers who dominated the class lesson.

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4.8.2 Effects of Mental Ability on Students’ Achievement and Science Process