Effect of instructional materials on Biology instructions among high achieving secondary school students in SPED international secondary school, Oyo, Nigeria

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Biology as a branch of science and a prerequisite subject for many fields of learning contributes immensely to the technological growth of the nation. PURPOSE: This research was carried out to determine the effect of instructional materials on biology instruction among high achieving secondary school students in SPED International Secondary School, Oyo. METHODOLOGY: Quantitative research method using quasi experimental design was adopted to test two hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Simple random sampling was used to select 20 samples out of the population of 30 that met the criteria for selection. A 20-item Biology Achievement Test with the reliability and validity of 0.93 and 0.78 was used. Pretest and post-test scores of the sample was analyzed using t-test statistics. Results showed that the one sample p-values of the mean pre-test and post-test (0.683, P>0.05). P values for both the mean scores of male and female high achieving secondary school student in biology was (0.000, P<0.05). Results: Based on the findings of this study, there was no significant difference between the biology achievement of high achieving secondary school students taught with instructional materials and those taught without instructional materials. Meanwhile, gender was a potent predictor of academic achievement in biology among high achieving secondary school students. RECOMMENDATION: The results notwithstanding, authors recommended that instructional materials should be consistently used by teachers for biology instructions as it enhanced students’ achievement but maybe not for high achieving secondary school students. Public and private schools should provide teachers with sufficient instructional materials for every subject.