UPGRADING STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION IN BASIC SCIENCE USING ANALOGY AND DEMONSTRATION STRATEGIES

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of analogy and demonstration teaching strategies on Basic Eight students’ achievement and retention in Basic Science in Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental design, specifically the pre-test, post-test control group design, was adopted. The sample comprised 174 Basic Eight students drawn from four randomly selected schools. A validated 20-item Basic Science Achievement Test (BSAT) was used for data collection, with a reliability coefficient of 0.76 established using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20. Out of the four schools, two were assigned to experimental groups and two to control groups. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to test four hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the analogy strategy was more effective in enhancing students’ achievement and retention in Basic Science [F(1,171) = 82.013, p < 0.05] and [F(1,171) = 46.200, p < 0.05], respectively. The results further indicated that gender was not a significant factor in students’ achievement and retention [F(1,89) = 0.06, p > 0.05] and [F(1,89) = 0.39, p > 0.05], respectively. Based on these findings, the study recommended that Basic Science teachers should be encouraged to adopt analogy teaching strategies for effective learning of the subject.