Impact of Outdoor and Indoor Laboratory Experiences on Secondary School Students Retention Ability in Ecology

Stanley Maikano

Abstract


This study investigated the impact of two instructional strategies on the retention of learnt ecological concepts among senior secondary school biology students in Giwa education zone of Kaduna, Nigeria. A sample of 126 SS 2 students was randomly selected, pre-tested and categorized into experimental and control groups. The subjects in the experimental group were taught ecological concepts using the outdoor laboratory teaching strategy and their retention ability was compared with those of the control group who were taught the same ecological concepts using the indoor laboratory facilities. Pre-test and Post test data were analyzed using the t-test statistics at P≤0.05 level of significant to determine the equivalence and the retention ability of the students in the experimental and the control groups. One null hypothesis was tested using the t-test statistics and the following major findings were made; Students exposed to outdoor laboratory instructional strategy retained the learnt concepts significantly better than their counterparts exposed to the indoor laboratory instructional strategy and the use of outdoor laboratory is better than the use of indoor laboratory in the teaching of ecology because it enhances better retention ability among the secondary school students.


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References


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