Effects of Mastery and Conventional Learning Instructional Strategy on Students' Achievement in Economics in Anambra State Public Secondary Schools, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the effects of mastery and conventional learning instructional strategies on students' achievement in economics in Anambra state public secondary schools.  Three research questions and   three null hypotheses guided the study. Non-equivalent pretest and posttest of quasi-experimental design was employed in the study. The population for this study consisted of 2384senior secondary one (SS1) students in the 47 public secondary schools in Aguata Education Zone of Anambra State. A sample of 180 (senior secondary year one (SS1)) students which consisted of 95 males and 85 females were selected for the study. Stratified sampling   technique was used. Two schools were selected from Aguata, one from Orumba North and one from Orumba South. Also, purposive sampling was used to select all the four intact classes for the selected schools. Validated instrument for data collection was Economics Achievement Test (EAT) which comprised 25 multiple choice items. Section A solicited students' background and section B was made up of 25 multiple choice questions with options A-D. The instrument has a reliability value of .94 using Kudar-Richardson (K-R₂₀) test which was considered adequate for the study. The result indicated that mean achievement due to mastery learning strategy has higher mean compared to the conventional learning strategy. The study also revealed that there is a significant difference in the mean achievement of male and female students exposed to mastery learning approach and that of conventional learning approach. The study therefore concluded that mastery learning   strategy is more effective in students learning of Economics better as compared to the conventional learning strategy. The study recommended among others that teachers should integrate mastery learning   strategy in their classroom day to day teaching and learning process.