EFFECT OF JIGSAW INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN BASIC SCIENCE IN TARABA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study explored the effect of jigsaw instructional strategy on students’ performance in basic science in Taraba State, Nigeria. Three research questions were raised; three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. The population comprised all the 6288 students in upper basic II in Jalingo Education Zone. The sample size was 209 students from two sampled intact classes. Purposive and simple random samplings were used as sampling techniques. 91 students were in the experimental group and taught with jigsaw instructional strategy while 118 students were in the control group and learned through conventional instructional strategy. Basic Science performance test (BSPT) was used for data collection. BSPT was validated by three experts: two from science education and one from measurement and evaluation unit all from Taraba State University, Jalingo. Reliability index of BSPT was found to be 0.88 using Kuder Richardson 20 formula. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer all the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test all the null hypotheses. The findings revealed that students taught using jigsaw instructional strategy showed significantly higher performance than their counterparts in the conventional instructional strategy (p<0.05). There was no significant effect of gender on performance (p>0.05). Similarly, there was no significant interaction effect of strategies and gender on performance (p>0.05). It was concluded that when learning through jigsaw instructional strategy enhances performance. It was recommended among others that basic science teachers should integrate this strategy into classroom instructions to improve students’ performance in Basic Science.