Effect of Innovative Approaches on Senior Secondary School Students academic performance in Biology in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of innovative teaching approaches on the academic performance of senior secondary school students in Biology in Adamawa State. The design for the study was pretest, posttest non randomised, control group quasi-experimental design. The population comprised all 10,483 SS2 Biology students in public senior secondary schools in Adamawa State. Two intact classes from the two selected zones were randomly assigned as experimental and control groups. Students in the experimental group were taught selected Biology topics using innovative approaches such as inquiry, demonstration, and cooperative learning, while the control group was taught using the conventional lecture method for six  weeks. A Biology Achievement Test was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and ANCOVA at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that students taught Biology using innovative teaching approaches outperformed those taught with the conventional methodF= 231.731 (df1),.141=p = .141=0.000. The study also found that there is  no statistically significant effect with male students outperformed female students under both innovative and conventional teaching methods F= 2.181 (df1), P=.141. It was concluded that innovative teaching approaches are more effective than conventional methods for improving students’ academic performance in Biology. Recommendations were made for teachers, schools, and government to adopt and support learner-centered strategies.