EFFECT OF BRAIN-BASE APPROACH AND GENDER AND ACHIEVEMENT, INTEREST AND RETENTION OF STUDENTS IN BASIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AT JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL

Abstract

The study adopted quasi experimental design and was carried out in Minna, Niger State. The population for the study was 410 male and female students. The sample size for the study was 114 Basic science and technology second year students which comprised 72 males and 42 females randomly selected from two junior secondary schools in Minna, Niger. The instruments for data collection were Basic science and technology cognitive achievement test (BSTCAT) and Basic science and technology interest inventory (BSTII). Both were subjected to face validation by three experts from Industrial & Technology Education Department, Federal University of Technology, Minna. The Kuder Richardson 20 (K-R20) was employed for determining the reliability of the BSTCAT while Cronbach alpha reliability method was used to determine the internal consistency of the BSTII and 0.82 and 0.84 were obtained respectively. The data collected were analysed using mean to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the three hypotheses. The study found, among others, that students taught Basic science and technology with brain-base learning had a higher mean achievement score, mean interest and mean retention score than those taught using traditional teaching. It was recommended that Basic science and technology teachers in technical colleges should adopt the use of the brain-base learning technique to teach Basic science and technology trades to students and facilities that could encourage the use of brain-base learning should be provided to Basic science and technology teachers in technical colleges.