Investigating the Effect of Structural Communication Grids as Conceptual Change Strategies on Student’s Academic Achievement in 9th Grade Biology

Abstract

The conceptual understanding of students is closely related to circumstances such as teachers, textbooks, instructional strategies, and assessment techniques. The most critical factor which affect student’s learning is the way we assess them. Structural communication grids being an alternative assessment technique is to measures meaningful learning and discovering students’ misconceptions. Quasi-experimental design was used in this study to explore the effect of structural communication grids as conceptual change strategies on students’ academic achievement in 9th grade biology. The sample of the study was comprised of 100 9th grade biology students (male 55 and female 45). Researcher conducted side by side experiments in two different institutions in G-9 sector, Islamabad. Biology achievement test as one of the data collections tools, was developed by researcher and its reliability was found to be .85. Further, 30 structural communication grids were used in the present study, which were developed by researcher in consultation with experts in the subject of biology. After treatment results were collected and analyzed by researcher using descriptive statistics (Mean and Standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Independent Sample t-test and Two-Way Analysis of Variance). Findings of the study revealed that structural communication grids are useful for improving student’s achievement by diagnosing their misconceptions concerning grade 9 biology.