ANALOGY:AN INSTRUCTIONAL TOOL FOR IDENTIFYING DIFFICULT TOPICAL AREAS OF OSMOSIS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY STUDENTS IN MINNA NIGER STATE

Abstract

The study is an attempt to identify misconceptions held by secondary school biology students on the concept of Osmosis through the use of analogy as an instructional tool. The increase in the rate at which secondary school students misconceive some basic science concepts necessitated the search for a more suitable instructional strategy to minimize it. A total of 160 students in senior secondary class two (SS II) randomly selected from four secondary schools in Minna metropolis made up the sample for the study. SS (II) students from two of the schools formed the experimental group. They were taught the concept of osmosis using Teaching-With-Analogy (TWA) model while students from the other two schools that formed the control group were taught the same concept using the traditional teaching method. The study instrument (TWA) was validated and its reliability determined as 0.91. Pretest- Posttest Experimental-Control Group design was used for the study. Analysis of data revealed that analogy was a more effective instructional strategy than the traditional teaching method in identifying students' misconceptions on the Concept of Osmosis in biology. Based on this finding, recommendations were made for adoption of analogy as an instructional strategy at secondary school level of our educational system.