Use of Advanced Organizers in Learning Conservation Concepts Among Secondary Students for Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of advanced organizers on retention and performance in conservation concepts among secondary Biology students in Jahun, Jigawa State, Nigeria. One hundred and thirty-seven (137) students were randomly selected from eleven (11) senior secondary schools that constituted the sample for the study from a total population of one thousand two hundred and twenty-five (1225) SSII students in Jahun zone. The study adopted the pretest, posttest, and post-posttest quasi-experimental, and control group design. The students in the experimental group were taught using the lecture method enriched with advanced organizers while those in the control group were taught using lecture method for 6 weeks. The topic taught was the conservation of natural resources from the senior secondary school curriculum. The instrument used for data collection was the Conservation Concept Performance Test (CCPT) with a reliability coefficient of 0.89. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated and tested using independent t-Test at 0.05 level of significance. Pictorial and textual advanced organizers were developed and also a lesson plan was developed for experimental and control groups. The significant findings from the study include: obtaining a significant difference between the mean academic performance scores of students taught conservation concepts with advanced organizers and those taught without advanced organizers in favor of the former. There is also a significant difference between the mean retention scores of students taught conservation concepts with advanced organizers and those taught without advanced organizers in favor of the former. Based on the findings it was recommended that advanced organizers are used by Biology teachers to teach in senior secondary schools among others.