Effect of Biology Practical Method of Teaching on Students’ Academic Achievement of Senior Secondary Schools in Mubi Educational Zone, Adamawa State

This study investigated the effect of practical teaching method on academic achievement of senior secondary biology students in Mubi Educational Zone, Adamawa State. Two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study was 5,331senior secondary schools Biology students in Mubi Educational Zone. A sample for the study was 125 drawn from Senior Secondary two (SS II) students, which were randomly selected through purposive sampling technique. The design was quasi-experimental research which involve pre-test, post-test control groups. The instrument used for data collection was 40 item Biology Achievement Test (BAT) adopted from WAEC past question papers. The instruments were subjected to face and content validity by two experts. The reliability of the instrument was obtained using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient of 0.61. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used for hypotheses testing at 0.05 level of significance using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The findings show that there is significant difference in the effect of practical method and lecture method on students’ academic achievement in biology. The result also shows that male students had higher mean score gain than their female counterpart when taught biology using practical method. It was recommended that government should organized training, seminars and workshops for both Biology teachers and Laboratory technicians in order to harmonize theoretical aspect of teaching Biology with practical activities.