Effect of Hands-On Learning Strategy on Senior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Topographical Map Studies in Mayo Belwa Local Government Area, Nigeria

This study was propelled by the poor performance of senior secondary school students’ recorded in practical Geography examinations. In line with this, the study investigated the Effect of Hands-On Learning Strategy on Senior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Topographical Map Studies in Mayo Belwa Local Government Area, Nigeria. Four null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted a quasi-experimental non-equivalent pre-test, post test control group design comprising two groups made up of one experimental group and a control group. Four schools and two hundred and five (205) SS III Geography students made up the sample size of the study. Four intact classes (two each) were randomly selected through balloting without replacement and assigned to experimental and control groups. The instrument used for data collection in this study was Topographical Map Achievement Test (TMAT), constructed by the researcher but structured in line with WAEC and NECO standardized test items in practical Geography. The validity of this instrument was established by two experts in Geography Education and Test and Measurement. The reliability of the instrument was established using Kendall tau ḇ statistic. A reliability index of 0.78 was obtained. Hypotheses one, two and three were tested using independent samples t-test statistic. While hypothesis four was tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The findings of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of students taught topographical maps using hands-on learning strategy and lecture method. There was a statistically significant difference in the retention scores of students taught topographical maps using hands-on learning strategy and lecture method. There was no significant effect of gender on the achievement of students taught topographical maps using hands-on learning strategy. There was no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on students’ achievement in topographical map studies Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that geography teachers should use hands-on learning strategy as an alternative strategy or incorporate this strategy with other instructional methods in order to promote effective teaching learning outcomes of students in topographical map studies.