The effect of concept mapping on students’ understanding of photosynthesis and cellular respiration at Akim Swedru Senior High School

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of concept mapping strategy on students’ understanding of photosynthesis and cellular respiration at Akim Swedru Senior High School. The study was done with a sample of one hundred and five (105) second year students studying elective biology. The study was conducted over a six-week period. The students were pre- and post-tested using a teacher-constructed biology test. Results showed that there were significant differences between the experimental group taught with concept maps and the control group that learnt with the traditional method. Moreover, there were significant differences in the performance of females taught with concept maps and males taught with concept maps. These indicate that concept maps help students understand, identify the key concepts, and connect the various concepts. It was therefore recommended that concept mapping should be adopted by ags a teaching method by biology teachers in other Senior High Schools. It was also suggested that that the study be replicated across different regions.