BRIDGING THE GAP IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN NUTRIENT CYCLES USING PRE-LESSON VIDEO AND POWERPOINT PRESENTATION APPROACHES

Abstract Poor students’ achievement in WASSC Biology examinations led to this study on bridging the gap in senior secondary school students’ achievement in nutrient cycles using pre-lesson video and PowerPoint presentation approaches. Guided by three research questions and hypotheses, the study was conducted in public secondary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area. A pre-test, post-test non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design was adopted. The population comprised 2,173 SS2 Biology students (M=1,014; F=1,159), and a sample of 120 SS2 Biology students (M=49; F=71) drawn using purposive and simple random sampling techniques. Data were collected with Nutrient Cycles Achievement Test (NCAT) which was face validated by experts and had its content validity established using table of specification. Its internal consistency reliability value was 0.80 determined using K-R20. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while ANCOVA was employed to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that students taught nutrient cycles using the pre-lesson video approach had a significantly higher mean achievement gain than those taught with the PowerPoint presentation approach. Although female students had a slightly higher mean achievement difference than their male counterparts, ANCOVA results indicated that gender had no significant influence on students’ achievement in Biology. There was no significant interaction effect of teaching approaches and gender on students’ achievement in Biology. Based on these findings, it is recommended among other things that teachers should adopt the pre-lesson video approach to engage students meaningfully and prepare them in advance for new learning.