Abstract:

The study investigated if the adoption of Gagne’s learning model of instruction could improve students’ academic performance in Basic Science and Technology (BST) in Taraba State, Nigeria. A pretest, posttest, control group, quasi-experimental research design was adopted in this study. The instruments used for data collection was Basic Science and Technology Performance Test (BSTPT). Gagne’s learning model lesson plans and BSTPT were validated by two experts in Science Education and one expert in Measurement and Evaluation. Kuder-Richardson (KR-21) formula was used to test internal consistency of BSTPT which yielded a reliability value of 0.96. The population of the study was made up of 7,767 Upper Basic 2 students that are offering BST in the 32 Government approved Upper Basic schools in the Aldo-Kola Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria. A total of 141 students were purposively sampled from four schools out of the 32 schools in the study area. Three research questions guided the study, and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The research questions were answered using Mean and Standard Deviation scores while the null hypotheses were tested using results from Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The study revealed that students taught BST using Gagne’s learning model had significantly higher mean academic performance scores than those taught using discussion method [F1, 140=286.230, p<0.05]. It was found that no significant difference between the academic performance of male and female students taught BST using Gagne’s learning model [F1, 68 =3.145, P>0.05]. It was revealed that there is no significant interaction effect of treatments and gender on the mean academic performance scores of students in Basic Science and Technology [F1, 140 =.976 P>0.050]. It was recommended among others that Basic Science and Technology teachers should adopt the use of Gagne’s learning model, since it was found to be effective strategy for improving students’ academic performance regardless of gender.

Keywords:

Adoption, Gagne’s-learning model, Students’ academic performance and Basic Science and Technology.