Role-Play, Peer Tutoring and Expository Method of Teaching Ecological Management and Biology Students' Academic Performance in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study conducts an empirical examination of the effectiveness of role-play, peer tutoring, and the expository method in teaching ecological management, focusing on the academic performance of biology students in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental with a non-randomised pretest, posttest control group. The sample size of 183 (92 males and 91 females) Senior Secondary Two (SS 2) students in three intact classes of three co-educational secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area, Nigeria, was selected using the purposive sampling technique.  The Biology Performance Test (BPT) was used for data collection. The Biology Performance Test (BPT) had forty (40) multiple-choice questions. The test measured students’ pretest and posttest performance in the concept. The reliability of BPT was determined using Kuder-Richardson 21 (KR-21) with reliability indices of 0.87. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated significant differences in the mean performance scores of biology students taught ecological management through role-play, peer tutoring, and expository methods, with the role-play and peer tutoring methods yielding better outcomes than the expository method. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the mean performance scores between male and female biology students taught ecological management using role-play, peer tutoring, and expository methods, respectively. It was also found that there are no significant interaction effects of teaching methods and gender on biology students’ performance on ecological management. It was concluded that role-play and peer tutoring teaching methods were more effective than expository in facilitating students’ performance in ecological management in biology. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others, that biology teachers should make effective use of role-play and peer tutoring in teaching the concept of ecological management in biology.