Effect of Two Instructional Strategies on Students’ Achievement in Selected Abstract Concepts in Biology

This study determined the effects of two instructional strategies (Project and Inquiry) on students’ achievement in selected abstract concepts in Biology. The study adopted the pretest-posttest control group, quasi-experimental design. 120 Biology students from six co-educational schools in two Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kwara state were randomly selected. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment groups. The instruments used were: Biology Student Achievement Test and Teachers' Instructional Guides on Project and Inquiry strategies. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The data collected were analyzed using analysis of covariance; the treatment had a significant main effect on students’ achievement on some selected abstract concepts in Biology. Project strategy (PS) treatment group 1 has the highest adjusted mean achievement scores than those in the Inquiry Strategy (IS) treatment group 11, and the students in the Conventional Strategy (CS) control group have the lowest adjusted mean achievement scores. This order is represented as PS IS CS. The male students showed greater improvements in mean gain of achievement scores than the female students. Based on the findings, Project and Inquiry strategies should be adopted for the improvement of students’ achievement in abstract concepts in biology.