Abstract:
Genetics Concepts (GC) in biology are taught at Secondary School (SS) to equip students with relevant knowledge, positive attitude and necessary skills for informed decisions related to Socio-scientific Issues (SsI), such as sex determination and marriage. However, available reports have shown that students exhibited poor knowledge, reflective thinking and negative attitude to GC. Earlier studies concentrated largely on students’ factors, neglecting interventions which incorporated SsI. Therefore, this study was designed to determine the effects of Constructive Controversy Strategy (CCS) and Socio-scientific Issue-based Strategy (SsIS) on students’ learning outcomes (knowledge, reflective thinking and attitude) in SS GC in biology, Oyo State, Nigeria. It also examined the moderating effects of Scientific Reasoning Ability (SRA) and Self-efficacy in Genetics (SeG).
The study was anchored to Situated Learning Theory, while the mixed methods of sequential explanatory type of the pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design using a 3x3x3 factorial matrix and survey were used. Nine public SS (three in each senatorial district) were randomly selected. An intact class of SS II students from each school was randomly assigned to CCS (96), SsIS (121) and control (119) groups. The instruments used were Students’ Achievement Test in Genetics (r=0.78); Lawson’s Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (r=0.76); Students’ Attitude to Genetics (α=0.83); Reflective Thinking (α=0.81) questionnaires; SeG (α=0.88); Students’ Attitude to SsI (α=0.84) scales and instructional guides. These was complemented by three sessions of focus group discussion. The treatment lasted 16 weeks. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post-hoc test at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were thematically analysed.
The participants’ age was 15.56±1.05 years and 72.4% were female. Students’ attitude to SsI (=3.22) was positive against the threshold of 2.50. There were significant main effects of treatment on student’ knowledge (F(2; 334)=7.04; partial η2=0.04), reflective thinking (F(2; 334)=3.26; partial η2=0.02) and attitude (F(2; 334)=17.19; partial η2=0.10). The students in SsIS group had the highest adjusted post-knowledge (22.59), followed by those in CCS (21.28) and control (19.97) groups. The students in SsIS group had the highest adjusted post-reflective thinking (62.47), followed by those in CCS (59.77) and control (59.27) groups. The students in SsIS group had the highest adjusted post-attitude (73.92), followed by those in CCS (65.00) and control (56.63) groups. There were significant main effects of SRA on students’ knowledge (F(3; 334)=4.52; partial η2=0.03) and reflective thinking (F(3;334)=3.34; partial η2=0.02), in favour of formal SRA students. There was a significant main effect of SeG on students’ reflective thinking (F(3; 334)=2.67; partial η2=0.02), in favour of low self-efficacy students. There was a significant main effect of SeG on attitude (F(2;334)=3.76; partial η2=0.02), in favour of medium self-efficacy students. There was a significant interaction effect of treatment and SeG on students’ attitude (F(4;332)=4.25; partial η2=0.05), in favour of SsIS group with high self-efficacy. Students were enthusiastic with the strategies.
Socio-scientific issue-based and constructive controversy strategies improved students’ learning outcomes in secondary school genetics concepts in Oyo State, Nigeria. Biology teachers should adopt these strategies in teaching genetics concepts in biology.
