Effects of Evaluative Feedback on Performance and Retention of Secondary School Students in Biology

Abstract

This paper investigated the effects of evaluative feedback on performance and retention of secondary school students in Biology. The research design was a two-group Pre-test-Post-test comparative experimental research. The sample consisted of 120 SS II Biology students selected from four Senior Secondary Schools in four local government areas of Ekiti State, based on stratified random sampling techniques. The strata recognized schools in the local government areas and the experimental and control groups. The instrument for collecting data was a 30- item Biology achievement test drawn from the concepts of population, reproduction and ecology. The validity of the instrument was ensured using experts while the reliability coefficient was estimated at 0.78 using split-half method. Pretest was administered on the students for the purpose of homogeneity while the Post-test was administered after the experiment. Two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data collected were analyzed using means, standard deviation and t-test. The result indicated that, there was significant difference in the performance of students who were given evaluative feedback and those who were not given evaluative feedback. Similarly the group given immediate evaluative feedback had better retention than those without immediate evaluative feedback. It was recommended that teachers should constantly give feedback to students on any test administered to promote test wiseness, better performance and retention in Biology.