EFFECT OF SELF-REGULATED LEARNING STRATEGY ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACQUISITION OF SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS IN BIOLOGYIN MAKURDI, BENUE STATE

Effect of self-regulated learning strategy on secondary school students’ acquisition of science process skills in Biology in Makurdi, Benue State was studied using pre-test post-test non-randomised control group quasi-experimental design. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The population comprised of 1,996 senior secondary II students in Government grants aided schools in Makurdi. A sample of 65 students was drawn by multiple stage sampling procedure and was used for the study. Science Process Skills Test (SPST) was used for data collection. The SPST was trial tested and the data collected was computed using Pearson product moment correlation (PPMC) and yielded the reliability coefficients of 0.81. The data collected was analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The finding showed that there was a significant difference in the mean science process skills of students taught Biology using self-regulated learning strategy and those taught using demonstration teaching method (p= 0.000<0.05). The finding also showed that there was no significant mean difference in the science process skills of male and female students taught Biology using self-regulated learning strategy (p= 0.084 > 0.05). The result revealed that the mean gain difference of students taught Biology was 6.48 in favour of those taught using self-regulated learning strategy and there was a mean gain difference of 1.64 in favour of male students taught Biology using self-regulated learning strategy. It was recommended that SRLS should be used in teaching and learning Biology to ensure better learning outcomes of students’ science process skills in senior secondary schools.