ENHANCING STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD BIOLOGY USING CONSENSUS AND COOPERATIVE REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WRITING EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES

Abstract

Biology is a core and required science subject offered at the upper secondary school level in the Nigerian educational system. However, students’ attitude towards the subject is poor, a trend probably due to the use of teacher-centred educational strategies. Scholars have thus advocated for the need to adopt innovative educational strategies to enhance students’ attitude towards biology. This study investigated the use of consensus and cooperative reflective journal writing educational strategies in enhancing students’ attitudes towards biology in two Local Government Areas (LGAs) within Ibadan Metropolis of Oyo State, Nigeria. The study adopted a quantitative pre-test-post-test, control group quasi-experimental design involving a 3x2 factorial matrix, with a positivist paradigm. Purposive sampling was used to select six schools across the LGAs while an intact class of upper secondary school II students was selected from each of the schools for a total of 305 participants. Two instruments, the Biology Attitude Questionnaire (BAQ) and the Students’ Verbal Ability Test (SVAT) were used during the study. The data generated were analysed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results showed that, treatments enhance students’ attitudes toward biology. Results also revealed that students’ verbal ability has effect on students’ attitudes toward biology. The interaction between treatment and verbal ability was not significant to enhance students’ attitudes toward biology. The two strategies, therefore, enhanced students’ attitude towards Biology in the two LGAs within Ibadan metropolis of Oyo State, Nigeria. The two strategies should therefore be adopted in teaching Biology to upper secondary school students in Nigeria and elsewhere. Keywords: attitude toward biology, consensus strategy, cooperative strategy, reflective journal writing, verbal ability