Hands-on Genetics and Pupils’ Academic Achievement at Selected Secondary Schools in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia

Abstract

Academic achievement of the majority of pupils has remained poor in genetics as observed from the grade 12 final examinations in most of the public senior secondary schools in Zambia. Pupils’ underachievement in genetics has been attributed to several factors such as poor modes of teaching, absence of teaching and learning resources and the abstract nature of the said topic. A considerable number of science educators believe that the use of hands-on mode of teaching using physical materials would improve pupils’ performance in genetics. Data to support this conception are limited in Zambia. It was against this backdrop that the current study was undertaken to establish one way or the other the effects of hands-on teaching of genetics on pupils’ achievement in senior secondary school in Zambia. Four mixed-sex public senior secondary schools were considered from the Copperbelt province. Several hands-on activities were designed out of low cost physical materials and annotated diagrams which were used for this purpose. The study used the Solomon Four, Non-Equivalent Control Group Design. The two experimental groups were taught using the hands-on method and the two control groups were taught by using conventional modes of teaching. The said four groups were each selected by using simple random sampling. The sample size of the study was 146 pupils. In addition, four biology teachers took part in the study. In this study, Science Achievement Tests (SAT) in form of Multiple Choice Test (MCT) were used to collect the required data on pupils’ achievement. The instruments were validated by experts from the department of Mathematics and Science Education. Pupils’ scores were compared for pre-treatment and post intervention.  Also, background information from pupils and teachers was collected using a questionnaire. The pre-test results were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test while the post-test scores were analyzed by using Kruskal Wallis H test and Mann-Whitney test.  All these statistical tests were determined with the aid of a statistical programme called Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Data collected from background questionnaires were analyzed by employing two sample t-test between percentages. The level of significance for the rejection of the hypotheses was set at 0.05 alpha level.The results of the study showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the means of the experimental groups and that of the control groups with an effect size (r²) of .60. Pupils who were taught genetics by using hands-on teaching approach outperformed those who were taught the same concepts of genetics by use of conventional modes of teaching. The findings of the current study are likely to benefit biology teachers, educators and administrators of education in Zambia.

Keywords: Hands-on genetics, Hands-on activities, Academic achievement, Genetics