INFLUENCE OF CONCEPT MAPPING AND COOPERATIVE TEACHING SYSTEMS ON EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL HOME ECONOMICS PUPILS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

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INFLUENCE OF CONCEPT MAPPING AND COOPERATIVE TEACHING SYSTEMS ON EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL HOME ECONOMICS PUPILS IN KADUNA STATE,  NIGERIA  

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Concept Mapping and Cooperative Learning Teaching Methods on the Academic Performance of Home Economics Students in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Three objectives were formulated to guide the study, to;determine the effect of Concept Mapping teaching method on the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition students in secondary schools in Kaduna State;ascertain the effect of Cooperative Learning teaching method on the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition students in secondary schools andcompare the effects of Concept Mapping, Cooperative Learning and lecture teaching methods on the lower level of cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition students in secondary schools in Kaduna State. In line with the objectives, three research questions and hypotheses were formulated.Quasi experimental design was used for the study. The population comprised of the 11,446 Home Economics students in the 12 Educational Zones in Kaduna state. The sample size for the study was 172 SS2 Students from three secondary schools in Zaria Educational Zone. Purposive sampling technique was used for the Study. Instrument for data collection was a self-designed test: Foods and

NutritionAchievement Test Items (FNATI) whose items were selected from West African Examination Council (WAEC)Foods and Nutrition past questions. The reliability of the instrument was established using test retest reliability method. The scores of the pilot tests were analyzed using Chronbach‟s alpha. A reliability coefficient of 0.80 was realized. The data for the study was collected by the researcher and the exercise lasted for eight weeks. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation.

All hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that Concept Mappingand Cooperative Learning teaching methods improved the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition students with gain scores of

18.03 and 32.73 respectively. The findings also revealed that comparatively, Cooperative Learning teaching method had the highest gain score (32.73), which implied that it improvedthe lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition students best. The corresponding hypotheses were tested and hypothesis one was retained with t(114) = -.50, p = .306; > . Hypotheses two and three were rejected with p values less than 0.010 (p <0.010), which implied that there was a significant effect of Cooperative Learning teaching method on the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition Students. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded thatConcept Mappingimproved the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition students the least. The study concluded that Cooperative Learning teaching method had a positive effect on the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition students. Thus, it was recommended that; Cooperative Learning teaching method should be used to teach Foods and Nutrition in secondary schools.  

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

The importance of Education cannot be overemphasized, as it is the foundation of development at all spheres. Education is the bedrock for national development as it is vital to the pace of social, political and economic development of any nation (Mkpa, 2009).Quality education is achieved through effective teaching usually actualized through adopting appropriate methods of teaching.Good education is only established when educational goals are met. One of the determinants of the attainment of these goals isthe academic performance of students and academic performance of students may be enhanced or hindered by the teaching methods adopted by the teacher. Home Economics   is a form of Education that is an embodiment of wealth creating vocations which is supposed to be well patronized to the point that poverty level can be reduced.

Teaching and guiding Home Economics learners is the primary function of aHome Economics  teacher.The teacher‟s task entails giving instruction, imparting knowledge, facts, skills, attitudes, interests and aptitude. AHome Economics  teacher is expected to be a professional who consciously and deliberately utilizes experience, ideas, skills, competencies, interests, attitudes and mastery of the subject matter to facilitate learning and evaluate students.For learning to take place, the teaching methods adopted by theHome Economics  teacher must be effective, otherwise, the purpose of education would be defeated and this could have gross consequences on the developmentof the learner and the nation (Okursoy, 2009).

Home Economics  has the potential to play a major role in supporting young people to participate effectively in changing social, cultural and economic development. According toAnyakoha(2007),Home Economics  is a field of study that is concerned with improving family life. It does this by finding out the needs of individuals and families, finding ways of meeting these needs, improving the goods and services which families use, preparing people for employment and family life.Home Economics  Institute of Australia (HEIA) (2016) posits that the central focus of Home Economics  education is the wellbeing of people within the context of their personal, family, community and work roles. Home Economics  education is about becoming independent, connecting with others and taking action towards preferred futures that support individual and family wellbeing. Through Home Economics  education, students become empowered, active and informed members of the society. The method of teaching adopted in the teaching of

Home Economics  may have a significant role to play in the attainment of the set goals of Home Economics  teachers.

According to literature, method of teaching is the totality of all strategies, techniques and ways that a teacher employs to maximize and facilitate classroom interaction. Method of teaching is a means of conveying facts and decoding messages that eventually result in the realization of stated educational objectives (Mkpa, 2009). Method of teaching is the procedure, orderliness in planning and execution of teaching with an appropriate integration of instructional materials to achieve objectives at the classroom level. There are several methods of teaching that can be employed in the teaching and learning of Home Economics to enhance students‟ understanding and academic performance.

Academic performance has to do with how well students meet up with educational standards; aims, goals and objectives of education set up for them at a particular time. Academic performance is defined as students‟ progress, understood as the level of learning and comprehension. (Mamman, 2016). It is how students deal with the academic programmes designed for them and how they cope with or accomplish different tasks given to them by their teachers. Academic performance reflects the outcome of education, the extent to which a student, teacher or institutions have achieved their goal. This is further corroborated by (Nnaobi, 2007)who maintains that performance in teaching and learning process has to do with the attainment of set objectives of instruction. As career competition grows in the working world, the importance of students performing well in school has caught the attention of parents, legislators and government. Academic achievement is commonly measured by examination or

continuous assessment; however, there is a general agreement on how it is best tested. In a country like the United States of America (USA), the school achievement is measured by the academic performance index (API).API is a measurement of academic performance and progress of individual schools and itis either in form of number allocation or ranking.In Nigeria, academic performance is measured majorly by the student‟s performance in external examinations. These examinations include those of West African Examination Council(WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME)(Chukwudi, 2013). These external examinations are usually compiled by experts and they contain items that are constructed with the use of Bloom’s taxonomy and Table of specification in order to ensure instruments are valid and reliable.

Bloom’s taxonomy is a set of three hierarchical models used to classify educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. The three lists cover the learning objectives in cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. The cognitive domain list has been the primary focus of most education and it is frequently used to structure curriculum learning objectives, assessments and activities(Bloom in Ibtihal,  Assaly and Smadi 2015). A Table of specification (TOS), sometimes called a test blueprint, is a Table that helps teachers align objectives, instruction, and assessment. Table of specification to (Alade and Omoruyi, 2014) is to ensure that the subject matter content and the course objectives are adequately sampled by the test items. There are many methods that can be adopted by Home Economics  teachers in order to enhance the academic performance of the learners. These methods may include Concept Mapping, Cooperative Learning, inquiry, project-based learning, among others.

A concept map refers to graphical tools, which are used in teaching to organize and present knowledge. According to (Howey and Zimpher, 2013)these tools include concepts, which are usually enclosed either in circles or boxes. These circles or boxes demonstrate the relationships between the concepts that are shown by a connecting line that links the concepts. Lucid(2016)posits that a concept map is a diagram or graphical tool that visually represents relationships between concepts and ideas. Most concept maps depict ideas as boxes or circles which are structured hierarchically and connected with lines or arrows.These lines are labelled with linking words and phrases to help explain the connections between concepts.Concept Mapping is a method that allows students to understand the relationships between ideas by creating a visual map of the connections

(William and Trochim, 2016). Today, not much has been done particularly in the teaching of Home Economics  with the use of Concept Mappingteaching method.Recently, many researchersSuch as Doğusoy(2012) have reported Concept Mapping as a successful tool for bothteachers and students to teach and learn as it has recorded a plausible influence on the performance of students in accounting and biology (Doğusoy, 2012). They have shown that concept maps have positive effects on academic learning outcomes such as; recall, problem solving, concept learning, repairing previous erroneous conceptualizations and developing critical thinking skills as well as nonacademic outcomes such as attitude, perception of self and anxiety (Bıyıklı, 2015; Baş, 2012; Jonassen, 2011 andKapucu, 2008). Okursoy (2009) reveals that concept maps showed a positive effect on academic success after a meta-analysis including 33 studies.

Cooperative Learningteaching method is a method of teaching where students work together in small heterogeneous group to complete a problem, project or any other instructional goal,while the teacher acts as a guide or facilitator. Learners positively depend on each other; through face to face interaction. The learners are assessed individually and held accountable for equally haring and contributing to the mastery of learning goals. The students develop appropriate collaborative and interpersonal skills to teach and encourage each other to learn. They also reflect and assess the effectiveness of growing, for future learning (Kagan, 1994,andJohnson and Johnson, 2008). Cooperative Learningis characterized by the following features: learner-centered, leader-facilitated, learner-active and learning process emphasis.

In     summary,    Concept     Mapping    teaching     method     is    considered     to

beindividualisticin naturewith an emphasis on the process of learning, while Cooperative

Learningteaching method is considered to be a group learning method of teaching with the emphasis on team learning.Concept Mappingand Cooperative Learning have been credited by researchers such Tebabal and Kahssay(2011)to have positive effects on the academic performance of learners in different subjects.The primary purpose of teaching at any level of education is to bring a fundamental change in the learner (Tebabal and Kahssay, 2011), that is to enhance their academic performance. Researches haveshown that the methodologies that teachers employ in the delivery of the lesson may either enhance or hinder effective learning (TebabalandKahssay, 2011). According to a study by Johnson (2008) and Okursoy (2009), on the influence of Concept Mapping and Cooperative Learningteaching methods on the academic performance of students in accounting and biology respectively, it was observed that students who were taught with Concept Mapping and Cooperative Learningteaching methods performed better than those taught with other methods.

The methods of teaching employed by the teachers in the delivery of the curriculum may enhance or hinder the achievement of the set goals. Premised on this, there is the need to investigate the effects of Concept Mapping and Cooperative Learning teaching methods on the academic performance of secondary school students in Home Economics.

 

 

 

 

1.2      Statement of the Problem

Foods and Nutrition as a vocational subject is designed to impart certain competencies that are capable of making learners self-reliant and productive members of the society.An objective that can best be achieved only through appropriate teaching methods. The researcher observed that the majority of Foods and Nutrition teachers in Kaduna state use lecture and demonstration methods in the delivery of the subject.In order to buttress this observation, the researcher further interacted with someFoods and Nutrition teachers in secondary schoolsin Kaduna state in order to inquire about the methods they often use in the delivery of Foods and Nutrition lessons. It was confirmed that lecture method is usually used while demonstration method is sparingly used by the teachers. These methods seem not to be yielding good results based on the poor performance of Foods and Nutrition Students in Kaduna State.

Poor performance of secondary school students in Foods and Nutrition subject might be associated with the teaching methods employed by Foods and Nutrition teachers.This calls for the urgent attention of teachers, curriculum planners and the education sector. Uwameiye(2015)confirmed the above statement by remarking that in spite of the laudable objectives of Foods and Nutrition as a subject, students‟ performance at external examinations like WEAC and NECO has been falling. This is further confirmed with the researcher‟s visit to the Education Resource Centre (ERC) in Kaduna State where it is documented that the failure rate of Foods and Nutritionstudents in WAEC from 2012-2016 is as follows: 30%, 33%, 30%, 47% and 68% respectively (ERC, 2017). Evident on the foregoing, it is clear that there is a problem with the performance of Foods and Nutritionstudents in our secondary schools in Kaduna State.

Thus raising series of questions,could it be methodology? Could it be inadequate instructional facilities? It is premised on this background that this study investigates the effects of Concept Mapping and Cooperative Learning teaching methods on the academic performance of Home Economics  students in secondary schools in Kaduna State.

1.3Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study was to assess the effects ofConcept Mapping and

Cooperative Learningteaching methodson the academic performance ofHome Economics  students in secondary schools in Kaduna state. The specific objectives are

to:

  1. determinethe effect of Concept Mappingteaching method on the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutritionstudents in secondary schools in Kaduna State;
  2. ascertain the effect of Cooperative Learningteaching method on the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutritionstudents in secondary schools and
  3. compare theeffectsof Concept Mapping, Cooperative Learning and lecture teaching methods on the lower level of cognitive domain of learningof Foods and Nutritionstudents in secondary schools in Kaduna State.

 

 

 

 

1.4      Research Questions

Based on the objectives of the study, the following research questions were raised to guide the study;

  1. What is the effect of Concept Mapping teaching method on the lower level cognitive domain of learningof Foods and Nutritionstudents in secondary schools in Kaduna State?
  2. What is the effect of Cooperative Learningteaching method on the lower level cognitive domain of learningof Foods and Nutritionstudents in secondary schools?
  3. What is the difference in the effects of Concept Mapping, Cooperative Learning and lecture teaching methodsonthe lower level cognitive domain of

learningofFoods and Nutrition students in secondary schools in Kaduna State?

1.5      Hypotheses of the Study

In line with research questions, the following hypotheses were formulated to guide the study:

  1. Concept Mapping teaching method has no significant effect on the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutritionstudents in secondary schools in Kaduna State;
  2. Cooperative Learningteaching method has no significant effect on the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutritionstudents in secondary schools;
  3. The mean scores of students taught Foods and Nutritionusing Concept Mapping,Cooperative Learning and lecture teaching method do not differ

significantly.

1.6        Basic Assumptions of the Study

The study was based on the following assumptions;

  1. Concept Mapping teaching method may affect the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition students positively.
  2. Cooperative Learning teaching method may affect the lower level cognitive domain of learning of Foods and Nutrition students positively.
  3. There are various methods of teaching, but some make more impact than the

others.

1.7Significance of the Study

This study assessed the effects of Concept Mapping and Cooperative Learning teaching methods on the academic performance of Home Economics students in

secondary schools in Kaduna state. The results of this study if published through journals, workshops, seminars, trainings, or documented in the library among others, are expected tobe beneficial toHome Economics students,Home Economics teachers,researchers,Home Economics curriculum planners, educational policy makers and professional programme developers.

The students stand to benefit greatly from this study because if effective teaching method is used to teach them, their academic performance will improve. Effective teaching method would arouse the interest and curiosity of the students, improve learning and performance of the students thereby, bringing about academic excellence, competence and positive self-perception in the students.

The findings of this study are of assistance to Home Economics  teachers as it will assist them to select and use the most effective methods of teaching in the delivery of Home Economics  lessons, thereby exposing the students to meaningful learning and making it possible for the teachers to attain the educational goals that have been set.

The study is of significance toHome Economics  curriculum planners as it will enable them to review and design an appropriate Home Economics curriculum that would simplify teaching and learning of Home Economics. It would assist the Home Economics  curriculum planners in establishing appropriate ways of handling Home Economics for maximum productivity. The result will also assist them in preparing and giving effective teaching guide to teachers and influence innovation programmes in Home Economics.

This study will provideeducational policy makers with adequate information about teachers‟ use of teaching methods and how these affect students‟ performances. It will also gear policy makers towards taking necessary measures in the area of vocational and technical education to include appropriate in-service training programme and encourage Home Economics  teachers to attend seminars, workshops and conferences on the use of various teaching methods for Home Economics.This study has providedHome Economics  professional programme developers adequate information about the effectiveness of the two teaching methods. Thereby, helping them prescribe methods of teaching alongside the programmes they develop.

Lastly, for researchers, this study will add to the existing literature and provide a baseline on issues related to effectiveness in the usage of methods of teaching Home Economics  subjects.

1.8       Delimitation of the Study

This research study was delimited to the effects of Concept Mapping and

Cooperative Learningteaching methods on secondary schools students‟ academic performance in Home Economics. The indices of academic performance are delimited to the lower level cognitive domain of learning that is, knowledge, comprehension and application. The reason for this is that the first three levels of the cognitive domain is the foundation upon which the higher level of cognitive domain is built. They are paramount to the academic performance of students.

This research was further delimited to only government secondary schools in

Zaria Educational Zone, Kaduna State. The research was delimited to Senior Secondary School 2 (SSS 2) students because they are expected to have had adequate exposure to a larger part of the Home Economics  curriculum at that level as such would be in better position to respond to the questions for the study.

The researchwas also delimited to Foods and Nutrition as a subject because majority of students at this level (SSS2) opt forthe Foods and Nutrition. The research study is further delimited to four topics from the syllabus of SSS 2. These topics were Eggs, Flourmixture, Seafood and Milk and milk products.

INFLUENCE OF CONCEPT MAPPING AND COOPERATIVE TEACHING SYSTEMS ON EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL HOME ECONOMICS PUPILS IN KADUNA STATE,  NIGERIA  

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