EFFECTS OF FIELDTRIP TEACHING STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION IN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS, JIGAWA STATE

This study examined the effects of field trip teaching methods on students' academic performance and retention in agricultural science in secondary schools of Kazaure Zonal Education, Jigawa State, Nigeria. Four research questions and corresponding hypotheses guided the study, which employed a quasi-experimental design with 757 Senior Secondary School II Agricultural Science students from seven Public co-educational schools in Jigawa state. Two schools were randomly selected and assigned as experimental and control groups. Ninety-five (95) students of 2 intact classes purposely selected as sample for the study. The study used the Agricultural Science Achievement Test (ASAT) as the data collection instrument, with Cronbach Alpha and a reliability index of 0.83. The data was analyzed using mean and standard deviations, and the hypotheses were tested using t-test. The results showed a significant difference in performance and retention ability between students taught crop propagation using field trip method and those taught using conventional lecture method. The field trip method was found to be more effective in retaining concepts than the lecture method. The researcher recommended that Agricultural Science teachers should use field trip methods to teach agricultural science in secondary schools in Kazaure Zonal Education, Jigawa State.