INVESTIGATING THE EFFEECT OF CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING AND DEMONSTRATION METHODS ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF JUNIOR SECONDARY BASIC SCIENCE STUDENTS IN ABUJA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL AREA

This study investigated the effect of Student Teams Achievement Division, STAD co-operative learning and demonstration methods of teaching on the academic achievement of Junior Secondary Basic Science School students in Abuja Municipal Council Area. A quasi experimental design with pre-test, post-test, experimental and control groups were used. The population of the study comprised all Junior Secondary Schools in Abuja Municipal Council Area. Three schools from which three intact classes of 191 students were randomly sampled from the 48 Junior Secondary Schools in Abuja Municipal Council Area. Basic Science Achievement Test (BASAT) which was the instrument used for data collection consists of 30 test items. Students in two experimental groups were taught using STAD cooperative learning and demonstration methods respectively while students in the control group were taught using the conventional method. Pre-test was administered to students in all groups before teaching commenced and after the teaching and experiment, a post-test was administered. Data obtained was used to analyze six research questions and hypotheses using mean, standard deviation and ANCOVA. The study revealed that students taught with STAD cooperative learning performed better in Basic science than those taught with the demonstration method. It also revealed that STAD cooperative learning method of teaching was more effective for both male and female students and for high and low ability students than the demonstration method of teaching. It was recommended among others that STAD cooperative learning be adopted in the teaching of Basic Science in Junior Secondary Schools. Keywords: Cooperative Learning, Demonstration method, Academic Achievement, Basic Science, Experimental group, Control group DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-27-11 Publication date: September 30 th 2022