Effect of Utilization of Systems Thinking Learning Strategies on Students’ Achievement in Agricultural Ecology in Secondary Schools in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goal numbers 4 and 5 clearly support improved qualitative and quantitative education in societies as well as Gender equality.This research was set out to determine the effect of utilization of systems thinking learning strategies on students’ achievement in agricultural ecology in secondary schools in Anambra state. The study adopted a posttest, non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design which involved group of students in their intact classes assigned to experimental and control groups. Three research questions were answered and three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The sample size for the study was 123 students. It comprised of 22 male and 25 female students assigned to system thinking learning strategy and 32 male and 44 female students assigned to conventional learning strategy. The instrument used for data collection was Agricultural Ecology Achievement Test (AEAT). To ensure content validity of the AEAT, a Table of Specification was built for the test. The AEAT was subjected to face validation by three experts. The AEAT was trial tested and Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (k-R20) was used to determine the internal consistency of the test. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.74. A total of 50 items of the AEAT had good difficulty, discrimination and distracter indices. The AEAT was administered to the students by the research assistants (subject teachers) before and after the topic has been taught to them in their schools using the learning strategies. Pretest and posttest scores of the students were collected as data for the study. The data collected were analyzed using mean to answer the research questions while ANCOVA was used to test the three null hypotheses formulated to guide the study. Based on the data analyzed, the following findings were made: Students taught agricultural ecology with system thinking learning strategy had a higher mean achievement score than those taught with conventional learning strategy using concept mapping. Also, there was a significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught agricultural ecology with system thinking learning strategy and those taught with conventional method among others.  Consequently, it was recommended that agricultural science teachers in secondary schools should adopt the use of system thinking learning strategy to the teaching topic like Ecology in agricultural science; among others.