EFFECTS OF SCAFFOLDING INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY, COGNITIVE LEARNING STYLES AND INTELLIGENCE ON STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT IN GENETICS IN NORTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT, BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

This study compared the Effects of Scaffolding Instructional Strategy, Cognitive Learning Styles and Intelligence on Students Achievement in Genetics in North Senatorial District, Benue State, Nigeria. A 2?2?2 (Method?Cognitive learning style?Intelligence) pre-test post-test group quasi experimental design was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised 1,957 SSIII in public co-educational schools in North Senatorial District, Benue State, Nigeria. The sample of the study comprised 83 SSIII students randomly sampled from two intact classes randomly selected from public co-educational schools in North Senatorial District, Benue State, Nigeria. Three instruments were employed for data collection, namely; Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM), Cognitive Style Checklist (CSC) and Genetics Achievement Test (GAT). The reliability coefficient of SPM and CSC were determined through test-retest and the reliability coefficient of 0.79 and 0.76 were obtained. The reliability of GAT was determined using Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (KR20) and the reliability coefficient of 0.80 was obtained. Descriptive statistical techniques of mean and standard deviation, Kolmogorov?Smirnov test (K-Stest) was used to ascertain the normality of the distribution of achievement scores. An Analysis of Variance (2?2?2) was employed on the scores of the students to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of this study revealed that the achievement of the scaffolding instructional strategy group was found to be significantly higher than the group taught through traditional method of teaching. Also the findings revealed that the difference of achievement was significant at two levels of cognitive styles. It was also revealed that the achievement gain scores of high intelligence group were significantly higher in comparison to low intelligence group. Based on the findings of this study it was recommended that scaffolding instructional strategy should be used by Biology teachers in the teaching Genetics.