EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTIVIST TEACHING METHOD ON STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, RETENTION, AND GENDER, IN ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE WORK TRADE IN GOVERNMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL COLLEGES OF YOBE STATE

This study aimed at determine the effectiveness of constructivist teaching methods on student’s academic performance and retention in electrical installation and maintenance work (EIMW) in government Science and technical college of Yobe state. The study was guided by four research questions and four null hypothesis using quasi-experimental research design to determine students’ academic performance, retention and gender in EIMW. The population of the study was 488 students of EIMW, a purposive sampling technique was used to sample 41 male students and 34 female students which sum up to 75 students. Instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Electrical Installations and Maintenance Work performance Test question (EIMWPTQ)” The instruments was validated by experts and trial tested to determine the reliability of the instruments; inter rater reliability test was used to obtained reliability correlation coefficient of 0.72. Mean and standard deviation was used to analyze the data, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent sample t-test was used to analyze the hypothesis with the help of Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) version 27. Two weeks after the post test was administered, a retention test was given to the same students in order to determine student’s retention. The finding revealed that Students taught EIMW using Constructivist teaching method performed better in academic performance than the conventional teaching method, Constructivist teaching methods was effective in facilitating long-term skills retention then conventional teaching methods. The findings also revealed that male students performed better than female students in EIMW when taught using constructivist teaching method among others. Hence, it was recommended that teachers should adopt constructivist teaching method in teaching EIMW, government, policy makers and administrators should organize workshop in other to train teachers of EIMW on the use of constructivist teaching method in the classroom so as to improve academic performance of students