ENHANCING OSUN STATE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN BASIC SCIENCE THROUGH COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP AND CRITICAL EXPLORATION TEACHING STRATEGIES

Abstract

Several researches have shown that students record low achievement in basic science. This has been attributed to conventional lecture method commonly used by science teachers. Scholars have thus recommended the use of other innovative strategies that could facilitate the teaching and learning of basic science. Two of such strategies are Cognitive Apprenticeship and Critical Exploration Teaching Strategies. There is paucity of research on effects of these two strategies on students’ achievement in basic science. This study therefore, used Cognitive Apprenticeship Strategy (CAS) and Critical Exploration Teaching Strategies (CES) to enhance students’ achievement in basic science in Osun State. The study adopted a pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design using multi-stage sampling technique to select two hundred and seventy JSS students from nine junior secondary schools in three local government areas of Osun state. The schools were randomly assigned to experimental (CAS and CES) and control (CS) groups, and treatments lasted for 12 weeks. Validated instrument titled: “Basic Science Students Achievement test (r=0.81) was used in the study. One hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data were analysed using ANCOVA and Duncan Post hoc test. The result showed that there was significant main effect of treatment on students’ achievement in basic science (F _(2,257) =66.56; ?²=.34). Cognitive Apprenticeship Strategy students (=13.35) performed better than Critical Exploration Strategy (=13.23) and Conventional Strategy (=7.90). Cognitive Apprenticeship and Critical Exploration teaching strategies greatly enhanced students’ academic achievement in Basic science. It was recommended that curriculum developers and basic science teachers should adopt the two activity-based strategies for the improvement of students’ achievement in basic science.