Effect of the Activity-Based Learning on Basic Science and Technology Students’ Non-Cognitive Skills in South-South Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the Basic Science and Technology (BST) students’ reaction to the use of the Activity-Based Learning (ABL) approach, recently introduced by the Nigeria Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Primary schools; and the influence of the ABL approach has on the BST students’ non-cognitive outcomes. The study used a survey and posttest only quasi-experimental design. Three research questions and two hypotheses guided it. The study population was 2,800 BST students of the 56 teachers who participated in the ABL teaching workshop. Three hundred and eighty students of twenty proportionately selected teachers from the state's three districts who used the ABL approach formed the experimental group. Another one hundred and fifty students who were not exposed to ABL were used as the control group. The ABL students answered the “Basic Science and Technology Students’ Non-Cognitive Outcome Questionnaire” (BSTSNCOQ), which elicited students’ responses on their learning experiences and non-cognitive outcomes based on the ABL approach. The students were highly satisfied with the ABL approach; there is a significant advancement in the non-cognitive outcomes/skills of the students, especially in meta cognitive strategies. The study concluded that using the ABL approach in teaching BST subjects can engender advancement in students’ non-cognitive outcomes/skills. The BST teachers in the state are recommended to be continuously trained, retrained, mentored and monitored in applying the ABL approach. The study has revealed the underlying, un-measured gains in using effective instructional techniques such as the ABL approach.