EFFECTS OF CONCEPT MAPPING AND EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING BIOLOGY IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY ABUJA, NIGERIA

The study was aimed at determining the Effect of Using Concept Mapping and Experimental Techniques in Teaching Biology in Senior Secondary Schools in Federal Capital Territory Abuja. The objective of the study was to compare the mean performance scores of students taught Biology using concept maps, experiments and lecture method, determine their retention level and find out their attitude towards the methods. The design of the study was quasi experimental pre-test posttest control group design. The population consisted of 6,208 SS2 Biology students of the Federal Capital Territory, from which 192 were selected from three schools within Karshi zone of Abuja Municipal Area Council. The major instruments used for data collection were Biology Achievement Test pre-test and post-test (BAT), Biology Achievement Retention Test (BART) used after 2 weeks of instruction and Concept Mapping Attitude Scale Towards Biology Questionnaire (CMASTBQ) and Experiment Attitude Scale Towards Biology Questionnaire (EASTBQ).The treatment package included Concept Mapping Instructional Package (CMIP), Lesson Plan for Experiments and Lesson Plan for Control Group. The items used for the pre-test, post-test and retention test were adopted from Educational Resource Centre (ERC) Abuja. The research questions analyzed using mean and standard deviation while the null hypotheses were analyzed using Two sample t-test, Covariance Analysis (ANCOVA) and Pairwise comparison at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The findings of the study showed that the use of experiments in teaching significantly improved the performance of students in Biology more than the use of concept mapping and lecture method. The use of concept mapping though enhances performance of students is not significantly better than the lecture method. The use of experiments makes for better retention levels than the use of concept mapping and lecture method. Students have a more positive attitude toward the use of concept mapping for teaching Biology than experiments. Based on the findings of the study, the use of experiments in the teaching of Biology are indispensable if the teaching and learning of the subject is to be effective and meaningful