Abstract
Education is changing rapidly. Schools are gradually shifting away from the traditional mode of instruction and toward a more active model of learning, in which students are collaborating on projects in small groups and then sharing their work with the class. Africa cannot afford to be left behind in this change. Though collaborative teaching and learning are quite popular in Africa, its variants/forms, consensus group and cooperative reflective journal writing are not. The effect of collaborative instructional strategies (consensus group and cooperative reflective journal writing) on students' achievement in biology as moderated by verbal ability was determined in this study. Three hundred five senior secondary school II students from two local governments' area within Ibadan Metropolis participated in the study. The Students' Biology Achievement Test (SBAT) and the Students' Verbal Ability Test (SVAT) were the main data collection tools used for this study. Data generated were analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Bonferonni post hoc test. Results show that both forms of collaborative instructional strategies improved students' achievement in biology. Results showed that students exposed to the cooperative reflective journal writing achieved more in biology followed by students in the consensus group strategy. Collaborative strategy can be a feasible alternative approach to teaching biology as it fairly addresses issues of interaction in the classroom. This has helped students develop their communication and also improve their socialisation skills in the classroom and beyond.
Highlights
Teaching and learning is a key aspect of any educational process
Since students' learning is the fulcrum upon which any teaching/learning activity is anchor upon, it behoves that the teaching strategies to be employed should foster students' learning
The effectiveness of the two modes of collaborative strategy may be attributed to the fact that these strategies enhance students' engagement, communication and listening skills, sharing of ideas, and students are able to arrive to joint decisions or knowledge agreeable to all, which is often superior to an individual decision or knowledge
Summary
Teaching and learning is a key aspect of any educational process. It aims is to enrich the learners experience, skills and overall development to function or integrate into the society. The strategy employed in the classroom by the teacher can either improve or mar the creative ability of the students. This, LUMAT according to Adepitan (2003) and Okoronka (2004), is the way sciences are being taught in Nigeria schools does not allow the students to derive a maximum benefit, because science instructions are mostly teacher-centred. This has led to many students facing learning difficulties and not performing to their optimised level in the classrooms. This strategy termed variously as lecture, expository, traditional or conventional strategy, do not foster interaction between teacher-students and between students-students, (Olatoye, Aderogba, & Aanu, 2011)
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