ABSTRACT
The study aimed at examining “The effect of Use of computer in flipped and normal classroom situations on secondary school Biology students’ academic achievement and interest in Abia state. The need for the study arose from concerns expressed by stakeholder’s, committed scholars and researchers on the poor academic achievement and interest of students in Biology, and the need to employ innovative blended learning strategies, especially, in a time like this where COVID-19 pandemic is ravaging the world so as to ensure continuity and flexibility in teaching-learning delivery. The study adopted quasi experimental design. Six research questions and six hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study comprised of 13,102 senior secondary two (SS2) students of 2019/2020 academic session in Abia state. The instruments for data collection are a 50 item multiple choice Biology Achievement Test (BAT) with options A-D adopted from past WAEC, NECO and JAMB questions and Biology Interest Rating Scale (BIRS). Kudder-Richardson (K-R20) and Cronbach’s Alpha test statistics respectively were used to determine the reliability of the instruments. Reliability index of 0.67 was established for BAT and 0.81 for BIRS. Mean and standard deviation scores were used to answer the research questions while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used in testing the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Results showed that students who were taught with computer assisted instruction in flipped classroom and in normal classroom situations achieved better and had more interest than those taught with lecture method. The use of computer in flipped classroom increased students’ achievement and interest in Biology more than the use of computer in normal classroom situations. Furthermore, female students taught Biology using computer in flipped classroom performed better than their male counterparts, even though it was not statistically significant. However, male students taught using computer in flipped classroom had more interest which is significant than their female counterparts taught using computer in flipped classroom. Male students who were taught Biology with the use of computer in normal classroom situations had higher mean both in achievement and interest than female students taught with the use of computer in normal classroom situations, though none of them were statistically significant. The educational implication of the findings is that poor academic achievement of students in Biology can be improved with the use of computer in flipped classroom which enhances students’ academic achievement and sustain their interest in learning Biology. It is recommended that Biology teachers should use computer in flipped classroom to enhance students’ academic achievement and sustain their interest in learning Biology. Seminars and workshops should be organized for training and re-training of new and old teachers on the use of these innovative blended learning strategies. This will ensure continuity and flexibility in teaching-learning delivery.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Declaration page ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgement v
Table of contents vi
List of tables ix
List of appendices x
List of figures xi
Abstract xii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 13
1.3 Purpose of the Study 14
1.4 Research Questions 15
1.5 Hypotheses 16
1.6 Significance of the Study 16
1.7 Scope of the Study 19
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Conceptual Framework 20
2.1.1 Flipped Classroom 20
2.1.2 Computers in Education 23
2.1.3 Computer Assisted Instruction 27
2.1.4 Lecture Teaching Method 32
2.1.5 Academic achievement and achievement test 33
2.1.6 Gender and academic achievement 36
2.1.7 Interest 37
2.1.8 Biology 39
2.2 Theoretical Framework 41
2.2.1 Theoretical framework for the flipped classroom model of instruction (Revised Bloom’s taxonomy). 42
2.2.2 Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning by Richard E. Mayer (2005) 45
2.2.3 Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura 49
2.3 Empirical Studies 49
2.3.1 Studies on Flipped Classroom Model of Instruction 50
2.3.2 Studies on Computer Assisted Instructional (CAI) 55
2.3.3 Studies on Gender and Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students in Biology 59
2.3.4 Studies on Gender and Interest of Secondary School Students in Biology 61
2.4 Summary of Review of Literature 62
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Design of the Study 65
3.2 Area of the Study 66
3.3 Population of the Study 66
3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques 66
3.5 Instruments for Data Collection 67
3.5.1 Validation of the Instruments 68
3.5.2 Reliability of the Instruments 68
3.6 Method of Data Collection 68
3.7 Experimental Procedure 69
3.8 Control of Extraneous Variables 70
3.9 Method of Data Analyses 70
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Results 72
4.1.1 Research questions and hypotheses 72
4.2 Major Findings of the Study 83
4.3 Discussion of Findings 84
CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of the Study 88
5.2 Conclusion 89
5.3 Recommendations 90
5.4 Educational Implications of the Study 91
5.5 Suggestion for Further Studies 92
References 93
Appendices 101
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Biology according to Medical Dictionary (2013) is defined as the scientific study of living organisms-plants, animals and micro-organisms including their relationships with one another and with the inanimate world. Biology as a natural science is concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution and taxonomy. Modern Biology is a vast and eclectic field composed of many branches and sub disciplines. However, despite the broad scope of Biology, there are certain general and unifying concepts within it that govern all study and research, consolidating it into single, coherent fields. In general, Biology recognizes the cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity, and evolution as the engine that propels the synthesis and creation of new species. It is also understood today that all organisms survive by consuming and transforming energy and by regulating their internal environment to maintain a stable and vital condition.
Sub-disciplines of Biology are defined by the scale at which organisms are studied, the kinds of organisms studied and the methods used to study them, for example, Biochemistry examines the rudimentary chemistry of life. Molecular Biology studies the complex interactions among Biological molecules. Botany studies the Biology of plants. Cell Biology examines the basic building block of all life-the cell. Physiology examines the physical and chemical functions of tissues, organs and organ systems of an organism. Evolutionary Biology examines the processes that produced the diversity of life. Ecology examines how organisms interact in their environment.
All the above mentioned branches and sub-disciplines are integrated in the Nigerian National Senior Secondary Biology Curriculum and this shows that Biology as a subject is an interesting one, since it centers on life. It could be offered by science, art and commercial students from Senior Secondary 1-3 because the subject centres on life. Biology is a subject offered at senior secondary school level in Nigeria.
The objectives of the Biology curriculum for senior secondary schools as derived from the National Educational Research and Development Council (2009) are to prepare students to acquire: Adequate laboratory and field skills in Biology; Meaningful and relevant knowledge in Biology; Ability to apply scientific knowledge to everyday life in matters of personal and community health and agriculture; and reasonable and functional scientific attitudes. These objectives explicitly reveal the indispensable nature of the subject. Furthermore, the Biology curriculum covers the major themes of: Organization of life; organisms at work; the organisms and its environment; and continuity of life with numerous topics and sub-topics under these themes. With these, it can be deduced that Biology as a subject is very important, not only to this nation towards nation building but also to the world at large.
In view of the importance of Biology, various science educators have expressed concern over the poor achievement and interest of students in the subject in senior secondary schools over the years (Njoku as cited in Ezere, 2020). Many factors have been attributed to students’ poor achievement and lack of interest in Biology. Ibe (2015) presents the following as prominent factors contributing to the observed poor performance and interest in Biology: the teaching method used by Biology teachers; learning methods adopted by students, difficult nature of the topics/concepts, lack of equipment and instructional materials for teaching Biology. The West African Examination Council (WAEC) Chief Examiner’s reports (2016, 2017, 2018) have consistently enumerated some of the weaknesses of the candidates to be poor answers to questions bordering on descriptions, inability to adhere to instructions, poor interpretation of questions, poor definitions amongst many others.
Similarly, Ibe (2015) observed that poor preparation of the students due to weak instructional strategies and dearth of instructional facilities account for students’ poor performance in public examinations in Biology. The inability of students to engage actively in the learning process tends to predispose the students to constant rote learning and lack of interest leading to poor academic achievements.
The conventional (expository) method of teaching Biology in most Nigerian classrooms is teacher-centred. This method of teaching lays explicit emphasis on the teaching and gives lesser attention to students’ input in the learning process. When constantly exposed to the conventional mode of teaching, students resort to rote/memorization of concepts. The conventional (expository) instructional method may not be able to achieve the needed goals in Biology in this 21st century. National Teachers’ Institute, NTI (2008b) remarked that the conventional instructional method is teacher-centered, while Adeyemi (2012) unreservedly posited that the conventional instructional method is characterized by emphasis on instructor’s behavior, rather than students’ behavior, minimal responses of students to instructional materials, and delayed feedback on students’ performances. The search for effective and efficient delivery of instruction to students has been a major concern of science educators.
Okarter (2018) also attributed students’ poor achievement in science subjects to poor instructional and learning methods, involving excessive copying of notes and rote-learning as encouraged by expository method of instruction. Since the conventional method of teaching and learning Biology is not yielding the desired result, it is ideal that there should be a shift beyond the conventional approaches to teaching and learning of Biology for there to be an improved performance and interest in Biology among secondary school students by employing innovative teaching-learning techniques.
Nigeria is a developing nation where there are emergence of electronic operations and services cutting across all facets of life ranging from information flows, teleconferencing, banking, business to education. Effective and efficient utilization of the services provided by these electronic technologies enhance the qualities of lives of individuals and the educational height of scholars too. In this era of information and communication technologies (ICTs), modern developments of innovative technologies have provided new possibilities to teaching and learning.
Innovative technologies therefore are those technologies that are relatively new, time saving, reducing difficulty index, interactive, collaborative, integrative, motivating and multimedia in nature. Examples of such are ICTs which are modes of communication technologies, network technologies, computer technologies and mobile technologies.
ICT can change the way teachers teach, be useful in supporting more student-centered approaches to instruction and help in developing the higher order skills as well as promote collaborative activities (Haddad in Ubani 2017). Generally, ICT holds out the opportunity to revolutionize pedagogical methods, expand access to quality education, and improve the management of education systems (World Bank, 2002). Ultimately, the power of ICT will be determined by the ability of teachers to use the new tools for learning to create rich, new and engaging learning environments for students.
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