Effect of Concept Mapping Instructional Strategy on Senior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Biology in Enugu Education Zone, Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of concept mapping instructional strategy on secondary school students’ achievement in biology. Two research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study, and quasi-experimental research design was adopted. The sample for the study comprised two hundred and forty-one (241) students drawn from the population of study in three schools in Enugu Education Zone using multistage sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was Biology Achievement Test (BAT). Data collected from the research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that students taught biology using concept mapping performed better than their counterparts taught using lecture method. Female students had higher achievement scores than their male counterparts in biology when taught using concept mapping. There was no significant interaction effect of instructional methods and gender on students’ mean achievement score in biology. In line with the findings of the study, the educational implications of the findings were highlighted; and recommendations were equally proffered among others that science teachers should adopt concept mapping in teaching.