Abstract:
Genetics, the biological Science that deals with how traits are transferred from parents to
their offspring plays a tremendous role in the lives of individuals in this 21st century but
most Senior High School (SHS) students’ in Ghana have challenges in obtaining
conceptual understanding of the topic particularly due to the instructional approaches
teachers’ employ in its lesson delivery. The author of this study therefore, investigated the
effect of classroom discussion on academic outcomes of students in genetics at Winneba
Senior High School. Five hypotheses and assumptions guided the study. Constructivists’
theory of learning was adopted for the study. The positivist paradigm and the quantitative
approach underpinned the study paradigm and its approach respectively. Solomon four
group design was employed for the study. The study population consisted of all Biology
students in Winneba SHS, Central Region with the target population being all SHS 2)
whereas the accessible population comprised Science One and Two students. Simple
random sampling (lotto technique) was used to select thirty-two (32) students with sixteen
(16) students each from Science One (1) and Science Two (2) as the experimental and
control group respectively. Standardized Genetics Achievement Test (SGAT) was the
instrument designed to gather data from the respondents. Data was analyzed using SPSS
by employing inferential statistics (2x2 ANOVA and t-Test) all tested at 0.05 level of
significance and descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, minimum, and
maximum scores). The study revealed students in the experimental group performed better
than their counterparts in the control [F(1,32)=45.68, p<0.05]. Furthermore, it was
established by the ANOVA analysis that the pre-SGAT was sensitive [F(1,32)=4.37, p<
0.05] in the control group [df=14, t=1.87, p< 0.05] but not in the experimental group
[df=14, t=0.99, p> 0.05]. Finally, it was found that neither sex outperformed each other
academically [df=14, t=2.04, p>0.05]. It is therefore recommended that because
[F(1,32)=45.68, p<0.05], classroom discussion should be employed predominantly by
Biology teachers at Winneba Senior High School when teaching abstract topics such as
genetics to enable conceptual understanding of the concepts among students the former
and to increase their academic outcomes the latter. Finally, owing to the fact that
[F(1,32)=4.37, p<0.05] Biology instructors at Winneba Senior High School Senior High
School classrooms should organize tests for their students on regular basis to enable them
to learn from their mistakes in previous tests to help them perform better in subsequent
ones
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Science Education,
Faculty of Science Education, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Science Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
JULY, 2020