Comparative Analysis of Project and Demonstration Teaching Methods in Improving Students’ Academic Achievement in Basic Electricity in Technical Colleges

Abstract

This study determined the comparative analysis of project and demonstration teaching methods in improving students’ academic achievement in basic electricity in technical colleges. The study adopted quasi-experimental design; specifically, pre-test, post-test for non-randomized and unequal groups were used. One research question guided the study and one hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. Four technical colleges in Ebonyi State, each technical college offering basic electricity, were used. A total of 141 Technical College year II (TC II) students formed the population of the study. The instruments used in the study were Basic Electricity Achievement Test (BEAT), Project Method Instructional Manual (PMIM) and Demonstration Method Instructional Manual (DMIM), which were validated by three experts. The instrument (BEAT) was administered twice to twenty (20) TC11 students in Enugu State and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation was used to obtain a reliability index of 0.89. Data collected for the study were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for research question, while the hypothesis was tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The study found more improvement in students’ academic achievement when taught basic electricity using project teaching method than when taught using demonstration teaching method. The study therefore showed that project teaching method was more effective than demonstration teaching method in enhancing students’ academic achievement in basic electricity. The researchers therefore recommended among other things that teachers should embrace project teaching method more than demonstration teaching method to enhance students’ academic achievement in basic electricity.