EFFECTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING METHOD ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION OF STUDENTS IN BASIC TECHNOLOGY IN OYO STATE

Abstract

This study was necessitated by persistent declining in the academic achievement in
Basic Technology in public examinations by junior secondary school students. The
study determined the effects of cooperative learning method (CLM) on academic
achievement and retention in Basic Technology in Oyo State. Three research
questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of
significance. The population of the study was 19,892 JSS II Basic Technology students
in Oyo State. The purposive sampling technique was used to select 114 students for
the study. Pre-test, Post-test and non-equivalent group quasi-experimental research
design was used for the study and the instrument for data collection was Basic
Technology Achievement Test (BTAT) which was validated by three experts. A
reliability correlation coefficient of 0.82 was obtained for the test items using test retest and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Mean was used to analyse data
relating to the research questions while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used
to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that students
taught Basic Technology using CLM performed better with higher post-test scores
than those taught using conventional teaching method (CTM). Findings also indicated
that retention mean score of students taught Basic Technology using CLM was higher
than those taught using CTM, both high and low achieving students were favoured by
the use of CLM but low achieving students were slightly favoured by the use of CLM
but low achieving students were slightly favoured more. The interaction effect of
teaching methods and gender was not significant on students’ academic achievement
and retention in Basic Technology. Hence, it was recommended among others that
school administrators should provide opportunities for in-service training for Basic
Technology teachers in order to equip them with competencies needed in the use of
CLM for teaching the subject.