EFFECT OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRATEGY, DEMONSTRATION METHOD AND GENDER DISPARITY ON ACHIEVEMENT OF BASIC SCIENCE STUDENTS IN ABUJA MUNICIPAL AREA COUNCIL, NIGERIA

This study investigated the effects of Student Teams Achievement Division (STAD) Cooperative Learning Strategy Demonstration Methods and Gender Disparity on the Achievement of Basic Science Students in Abuja Municipal Council Area. A quasi experimental design with pre-test, post-test, experimental and control groups were used. The population of the study comprised all Junior Secondary Schools in Abuja Municipal Council Area. Three schools from which three intact classes of 191 students were randomly sampled from the 48 Junior Secondary Schools in Abuja Municipal Council Area. Basic Science Achievement Test (BSAT) which was the instrument used for data collection consists of 30 test items and a reliability index of 0.71. Students in two experimental groups were taught using STAD cooperative leani ng strategy and demonstration methods respectively while students in the control group were aught using the lecture method. Pre-test was administered to students in all groups before teaching commenced and after the teaching and experiment, a post-test was administered. Four research questions guided. Four research hypotheses were stated and tested aiO.05. Data obtained were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and ANCOVA. It revealed that STAD Cooperative Learning Strategy was more effective for teaching Basic Science than the Demonstration method. The study further revealed that the Cooperative Strategy was more effective for both male and female students than the Demonstration Method of teaching. It was recommended among others that STAD Cooperative Learning be adopted in the teaching of Basic Science in Junior Secondary Schools.