Comparative Effects of Concept Mapping and Student-Team Achievement Division on Secondary School Students' Achievement in Photosynthesis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58197/42ygjx15Keywords:
Biology, achievement, concept mapping, Photosynthesis, Student-Team Achievement DivisionAbstract
Academic achievement in science, particularly in some Biology, perceived difficulty and abstract topics, such as Photosynthesis, is a global challenge, particularly for educators in most nations with low incomes. As a result, researchers in science education have kept looking for efficient methods of instruction that might raise students' academic achievement in such topics. This study examined the effects of Concept Mapping (CM) and the Student-Team Achievement Division (STAD) on students' achievement in Photosynthesis among secondary school students in Nyamagabe and Gicumbi districts, Rwanda. A quasi-experimental pre-and post-test non-equivalent control group research design was used in the study. Data were obtained from 70 students who were taught using CM, 66 who were taught using STAD, and 65 who taught using the Conventional Teaching methods (CTM ). The Photosynthesis Achievement Test (PAT), which served as pre-and post-test, was the instrument used to gather the data before and after interventions in the study groups. The mean, standard deviation, and Analysis of Covariance were used to analyze data. The results showed that the CM and STAD groups outperformed the CTM group in academic achievement in Photosynthesis. There was a statistically significant difference between the experimental groups in favor of the CM. Female students performed statistically higher than male students in STAD, while males and females performed equally in the CM group. Additionally, there was a statistically significant interaction effect of gender and instructional strategies on students' achievement in Photosynthesis. The study concluded that the CM and STAD improved students' photosynthesis achievement better than the CTM. Thus, biology teachers should implement the CM and STAD to help students better grasp Photosynthesis-related content.
References
Abamba, E.I. Esiekpe, L.E. (2021) 'Comparative effects of mind and concept mappings on students' academic achievement and retention of the concepts of radioactivity and electrolysis in senior secondary school science in Delta State, Nigeria', vers State University Journal of Education, 24(1), pp. 1–12.
Ayimbila, E.A. and Akantagriwon, D. (2021) 'Effect of concept mapping instructional strategy accompanied by discussion web on students' academic achievement in the concept of genetics', Journal of Education and Practice, 5(3), pp. 1–16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.47941/jep.668.
Biamba, C.N. et al. (2021) 'Assessing democratic classroom practices among secondary school civic education teachers in the global south : case study of South East Nigeria Assessing democratic classroom practices among secondary school civic education teachers in the global south ':, Cogent Education, 8(1), pp. 1–13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2021.1896425.
Chang, C.-C. et al. (2017) 'The effects of a collaborative computer-based concept mapping strategy on geographic science performance in junior high school students', EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(8). Available at: https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00981a.
Collins, B. and Nyenhuis, R. (2021) 'The effectiveness of concept maps for students' learning and retention', Journal of Political Science Education, 17(1), pp. 897–909. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2020.1775090.
Dashne, A.S., &Sinaa, A.A. (2019) 'The effect of using concept mapping strategy on the achievement of eighth-grade school students in biology subject in Erbil city', Zanco Journal of Humanity Sciences, 23(2960), pp. 127–147.
Doris, O.M. (2018) 'Effect of concept mapping in teaching physics in senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt local government area Rivers State.', European Scientific Journal, 14(31), pp. 71–81. Available at: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2018.v14n31p71.
Etobro, A.B. and Fabinu, O.E. (2017) 'Students’ perceptions of difficult concepts in biology in senior secondary schools in Lagos state’, Global Journal of Educational Research, 16(2), p. 139. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4314/gjedr.v16i2.8.
Eziyi, M. E., Mumuni, A. A., and Nwanekezi, A.U. (2016) ‘Effects of guided inquiry and cooperative instructional strategies on SS1 students’ academic achievement in conceptual understanding of photosynthesis.’, International Organization of Scientific Research Journal of Engineering, 6(8), pp. 1–11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.9790/3021-068010111.
Gambari, A.I. and Yusuf, M.O. (2017) ‘Relative effectiveness of computer-supported jigsaw II, STAD and TAI cooperative learning strategies on performance, attitude, and retention of secondary school students in physics.’, Journal of Peer Learning, 10, pp. 76–94.
Guraya, S.Y. and Abdalla, M.E. (2020) ‘Determining the effectiveness of peer-assisted learning in medical education : A systematic review and meta-analysis’, Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences, 15(3), pp. 177–184. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2020.05.002.
Hsu, T.C. (2019) ‘Using a concept mapping strategy to improve the motivation of EFL students in Google Hangouts Peer-Tutoring Sessions with native speakers’, Interactive Learning Environments, 27(2), pp. 272–285. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2018.1463268.
Hu, Y., & Hwang, G.J. (2024) ‘Promoting students’ higher order thinking in virtual museum contexts: A self-adapted mobile concept mapping-based problem posing approach’, Education and Information Technologies, 1(29), pp. 2741–2765. Available at: https://doi.org/. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11930-2.
Iorzua, A.J. (2017) Effects of semantic and concept mapping strategies of teaching vocabulary on senior secondary two students’ achievement in reading comprehension. Benue State University.
Mokiwa, H.O. and Agbenyeku, E.U. (2019) ‘Impact of activity-based teaching strategy on gifted students: A case of selected junior secondary schools in Nigeria’, Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists, 7(3), pp. 421–434. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17478/jegys.529919.
Motwani, R., Kaliappan, A. and Chandrupatla, M. (2022) ‘Student Team Achievement Division as a tool for peer assisted co-operative learning in neuroanatomy’, Anatomy & Cell Biology, 55(4), pp. 452–458.
Odutayo, A.O., Fonseca, K. (2024) ‘Making quadratic functions interesting : Students teams-achievement division instructional strategy’, EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 20(1), pp. 1–11. Available at: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/14092.
Omenka Omenka, D. (2019) Effects of mastery learning approach on senior secondary students’ interest, achievement, and retention in genetics in Benue State, Nigeria. University Makurdi.
Orji, C.T. and Ogbuanya, T.C. (2020) ‘Mediating roles of ability beliefs and intrinsic motivation in PBL and engagement in practical skills relations among electrical / electronic education undergraduate’, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 00(00), pp. 1–11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2020.1813188.
Prihatnawati, Y. and Mohamad Amin, M.H.I.A.M. (2017) ‘The effect of module implementation with STAD cooperative learning toward process skills in science and cognitive achievement of 8th grade students’, in International Conference on Learning Innovation, pp. 111--115.
Rwanda Education Board (2015) Competence-based curriculum. Curriculum framework pre-primary to upper second- ary. Rwanda Education Board. Kigali, Rwanda.
Singh, S. (2018) ‘Effect of cooperative learning strategies on students’ achieve ment in biology at secondary level and its role to address gender issues’, Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 6(2), pp. 26–35.
Sor, E. N., Jamabo, T. M., & Igwe, C. (2018) ‘Effects of cooperative and concept mapping strategies on students achievement in chemistry in selected secondary schools, Rivers State’, International Journal of Innovative Social & Science Education Research, 6(3), pp. 11–20.
Trung, D.N. and Truong, D.X. (2023) ‘The benefits of cooperative learning: an overview’, Technium Education and Humanities, 4(1), pp. 78–85. Available at: https://doi.org/10.47577/teh.v4i.8709.
Woldeamanuel, Y.W., Abate, N.T. and Berhane, D.E. (2020) ‘Effectiveness of concept mapping based teaching methods on grade eight students’ conceptual understanding of photo synthesis at Ewket Fana Primary School, BahirDar, Ethiopia’, Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 16(12), pp. 1–16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/9276.
Downloads
Published
Data Availability Statement
The data used to support the findings of this study are available upon request to the corresponding author.
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Classroom Practices
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
