Effect of Virtual Laboratory-Based Instruction and Field Trip Method on Students’ Performance and Retention in Basic Science in Bonny Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of Virtual Laboratory-based Instruction and Field Trip method on students’ performance and retention in Basic Science concepts in Bonny Local Government Area, Rivers State. Two objectives guided the study, two research questions were answered and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The Quasi-experimental research design was adopted for the study. The sample size comprised 89 Junior Secondary School 2 students drawn from intact classes in two selected public junior secondary schools. The purposive sampling technique was adopted to select the sample for this study. The instruments used for data collection were validated performance tests titled Basic Science Performance Test (BSPT) and Basic Science Retention Test (BSRT). The reliability of (BSPT) was determined using Kuder-Richardson Formula 21 which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.91, while BSRT is a reshuffled version of BSPT. Data collected were analyzed using Mean and Standard deviation to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that Virtual laboratory-based Instruction significantly enhanced students’ performance in Basic Science more than the Field Trip method. Also, there is a significant difference between the students taught using Virtual laboratory-based Instruction and those taught using the Field Trip method in their retention of Basic Science concepts, in favour of the students taught using Virtual laboratory-based Instruction. In conclusion, this study highlighted the efficacy of Virtual laboratory-based Instruction in improving students’ performance and retention in Basic Science. It was recommended among others that educational institutions integrate virtual laboratory-based instruction into the Basic Science curriculum to enhance students’ performance and retention. This approach provides a controlled learning environment that facilitates better understanding and long-term retention of scientific concepts.