ADVANCING SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' PERFORMANCE IN BIOLOGY USING SCAFFOLDING-ENRICHED DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined if secondary school students’ performance in Biology can be advanced using scaffolding-enriched diagnostic assessment techniques in Benue State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses were used he study. This study adopted a quasi-experimental design, non-randomised pre-test, post-test control group. Population consisted of 19,357 (10,273 male and 9,084 female) Senior Secondary Two (SS II) students offering Biology in 183 public co-educational senior secondary schools in Benue State. Sample comprised 245 (153 male and 92 female) students offering Biology in six intact classes selected using multi-stage sampling procedure. Biology Performance Test (BPT) was used. Scores of validated BPT were subjected to psychometric analysis test using Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (K-R 20) which yielded reliability coefficient of 0.72. The collected data were analysed using mean, standard deviation and bar charts to answer research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was adopted to test the stated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Bonferroni’s post hoc analysis was conducted. Findings revealed significant difference in the mean performance scores (F(3,241) = 49.044; p = 0.000 <0.05) of students in Biology when exposed to SDAFR, SDAF and SCTA. Findings showed no significant difference between the mean performance scores (F(2,72) = 0.019; p >0.05) of male and female students in Biology exposed to SDAFR. However, significant differences were recorded between the mean performance scores (F(2,88) = 19.395; p<0.05) of male and female students in Biology exposed to SDAF. It was recommended that Biology