EFFECT OF COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CRAFT PRACTICE STUDENTS IN TECHNICAL COLLEGES, NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

This study investigated the effect of computer-assisted instruction on academic achievement and interest of Mechanical Engineering Craft Practice (MECP) students in technical colleges in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Quasi-experimental design of the non-randomized per-test, post-test control group design was employed in the study. The population of the study comprised SS2 students in the three technical colleges in the state. Two intact classes with very close scores were selected from the study area based on the results of a per-test administered on the schools. They were then randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups for the purpose of the experiment. The experimental group was taught using the Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) package while the control group was taught using the conventional or lecture method. Following the treatment, a Mechanical Engineering Craft Practice Achievement Test (MECPAT) and Mechanical Engineering Craft Practice Interest Rating Scale (MECPIRS) were administered on the two groups. Mean and Standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while ANCOVA was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of confidence. The findings of the study revealed that students taught MECP using the CAI package performed better than those who were taught using the conventional method. Also, the results of the ANCOVA test indicate that there was significant difference in both the achievement scores and interest scores of the two groups in favor of the group taught using CAI. Based on this result, it was recommended that the CAI method should be adopted for teaching of Mechanical Engineering Craft Practice in technical colleges.