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EFFECT OF ANALOGY AND CO-OPERATIVE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY ON

THE ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PHYSICS STUDENTS IN
AWKA EDUCATION ZONE

BY

ACHUFUSI, N. N.

&

OKONKWO E. O.

Dept of Science Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of Analogy and co-operative combined instructional strategy on
the academic achievement of secondary school students in physics. Four research questions were
raised and three hypotheses tested at 0.05 guided the study. The design was quasi experimental
study. The population was 1239 SS2 physics students in Awka Education zone and a sample of
139 students drawn by simple random sampling were used for the study. The instrument was a
physics achievement test administered to 139 students before and after six weeks of teaching.
The study involved three treatment groups namely, analogy method group, co-operative learning
group and combined analogy and co-operative group. The data collected were analyzed using
ANCOVA. The findings indicated that the combined instructional strategy group performed
better than the analogy and cooperative learning groups. It was recommended that analogy and
co-operative combined strategy should be adopted for teaching physics and seminars organized
to educate teachers on this.

Key words: Analogy, Co-operative Learning Strategy, achievement in Physics.

Introduction

Science and technology are indispensable culture in the world. This is because the economic and
political strength of any nation depend on her scientific and technological achievement. Indeed
the development of any nation is indicated by the overall social, economic and political progress
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which depend upon man’s activities in his natural environment. It therefore implies that for any
meaningful growth and development to be achieved, the study of science and technology is a
critical instrument for the uplifitment of the nation economy and should form basis for
development. This study of science and technology allied courses found base in the study of
basic sciences, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics at the secondary school level.

Physics is a basic subject in science at the secondary school level and is an essential subject for
any science and technological advancement. Okoronka (2004) asserts that physics is a vehicle for
achieving the long term goals of science because it is an instrument for technology and socio-
growth across the globe. The role of physics in the education of scientists, engineers, doctors of
and other physical and biological sciences are enormous. Oludipe (2003) stated that physics is a
sine qua non to the technological development of any nation and its implication is found in all
spheres of life.

Despite the importance of physics, a number of problems plague the teaching and learning of the
subject especially at the secondary school level leading to the poor performance in physics.
These problems include method of instruction, inappropriate teaching strategy used by teachers,
inadequate instructional facilities, gender gaps and lack of conceptual understanding by students
(Kalijah, 2002). This is supported by the assertion of Nzewi (2003) that attributed the
deterioration in student’s achievement in physics to ineffective methods of teaching physics.
Perhaps this may be reasons for students’ poor academic performance in the subject at any level.
Based on this a lot of researchers recommended some instructional strategies over the years to
curb the problem of underachievement in Science. Achufusi (2015) recommended the use of
metacognitive learning cycle and self regulated learning models to enhance achievement of
students in physics. Iroegbu (2000) designed problem- based learning for better achievement,
problem solving and line graphing skills in physics. Orji (2000) recommended the use of
problem solving and concept mapping strategies and cognitive type to improve achievement in
physics. In spite of the supposed efficiency of these varieties of strategies, physics students at
secondary schools continue to exhibit poor performance in the subject. According to Okoronka
(2014), statistics from research library of West African Examination Council showed that
between (2004-2009) students’ performance in physics and other sciences in the SSCE is poor as
the percentage pass at credit level consistently fall below 50% except the year 2004 which is
51.02% and 2006 which is 58.05% respectively.

Achufusi (2015) observed that students shy away from physics because of teacher’s dominated
style of teaching and students’ inability to grasp the concepts in physics. This means that the
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methods where students indulged in factual memorization of discrete facts limit effective
communication of physics concepts. It is seen that the use of teacher dominated strategies
yielded nothing but learning by “rote”. It is against this deplorable trend that the present study
designed combined analogy and cooperative learning strategy which involved active
participation of learners. It employed a mode of building constructs in learners mind which
engendered improved physics achievement. In this study, the analogy model developed by
Harrison and Treagust (2001) which was six step TWA model was used. Equally, cooperative
learning is an educational approach aimed at organizing classroom activities into academic and
complete tasks which collectively improve academic goals. Johnson and Johnson (2009) stated
that students in cooperative learning setting compared to those in individualistic learning setting
can achieve more and gain higher self-esteem and perceived social support. The use of analogy
to support understanding across the curriculum was advocated by researchers like Okolonka
(2014) when he agreed that its greater utility in training students provides a meta- cognitive tool
that will facilitate the use of analogical reasoning techniques across dissimilar concepts and can
be used to help students understand abstract physics concepts, cooperative encourages group
work.

Gender was argued by researchers to be one factor that determine academic achievement in
sciences. Blume and Zember (2009) argued that the gender gap in the sciences and mathematics
is biologically driven which implies that parental hormones circulating in the brain encourage
differential development in the hemispheres of male and female fetuses. Equally, Anderson
(2002) pointed out that few American women are seen in science and science related professions
like engineering and technology. Okeke (1990) pointed out that the difference in interest and
performance observed between boys and girls in the physical sciences may be attributed to
unequal science experiences and the childhood training of both sexes so this may influence
achievement in the subjects.

Nworgu (2001) investigated on the development and validation of physics Achievement Test
(PAT) which was administered to a sample of SS2 physics students and found that male students
achieved significantly higher than their female students in physics. Based on this fact, the
researchers sought to investigate the viable means of analogy and co-operative learning and see
the effect on the students achievement in physics. Therefore the problem of this study is “Will
the application of Analogy and Cooperative as a combined teaching strategy enhance students’
achievement in physics?”

Research Questions
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Four questions were raised to guide the study:

1. What are the physics mean achievement scores of students exposed to Analogy teaching
strategy and those exposed to cooperative learning strategy?
2. What are the physics mean achievement scores of students exposed to Analogy teaching
strategy and those exposed to the combined strategy?

3. What are the physics mean achievement scores of students exposed to cooperative
learning strategy and those exposed to Analogy and cooperative combined strategy?

4. What is the influence of gender on the achievement of physics students taught using the
three different strategies?

Hypotheses
Two null hypotheses provided focus to the study which was tested at 0.05 level of significance.
1. There is no significant difference in mean physics achievement scores among students
taught with the three different strategies.
2. There is no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and
female students taught with the different instructional strategies

Method

The design for the study was quasi-experimental design. Specially, the non-equivalent control
group was used. The study was conducted in Awka Education Zone of Anambra State. There are
five Local Government Areas in the Zone. The area was chosen for the study because it is the
state capital having a lot of civil servants and government workers and there is a strong
inclination for science development in the state. The population of study consisted of 1,239
Senior Secondary (SS) 2 Physics students (710 males and 529 females) in the 62 government
secondary schools in the Zone. The choice of SS2 students is that they are not writing the West
African School Certificate Examination as at the time of the study so that it will not be a
distraction to them.

The multi-stage sampling technique was used. Firstly, simple random sampling was used in
selecting three out of five Local Govt. Areas within Awka Education Zone. Then, purposive
sampling was used to select three Government owned co-educational schools in the Zone. Three
intact classes of SS 2 students were then selected by simple random sampling by balloting from
each of the three co-educational schools. The intact classes were numbered 45, 48 and 46 physics
students respectively giving a total of 139 students (77 males and 62 females).
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The instrument consists of Physics Achievement Test (PAT) constructed by the researchers on
machines and waves. The PAT consist of 25 items with option A-D which was used as pre-test
and later reshuffled and used as post-test after the treatment procedure.

The validation of the instrument was ascertained by four experts, which are two senior lecturers
in measurement and evaluation and two senior lecturers in physics all in the Faculty of
Education, and Faculty of Physical Sciences respectively all in Nnamdi Azikiwe University
Awka. The reliability was done by giving the 25 items test to 20 students in a school within the
zone outside area of the study. The reliability was computed using the Kuder Richardson 21
(KR-21) formula and coefficient of 0.72 was obtained. A two week training programme was
organized for three physics teachers that handled the students in the three experimental groups.

Results

Research Question 1: What are the Physics mean Achievement Scores of students exposed to
Analogy teaching strategy and those exposed to cooperate learning strategy?

Table 1: Physics Mean Achievement Scores of students in Analogy and Co-operative Learning Groups:

Group N Mean Mean Post Mean Gain SD Pretest S.D Post

Pretest test test
Analogy 43 19.86 51.12 31.26 12.86 20.49
Co-operative 45 19.82 57.02 37.20 15.61 16.05
Mean Diff 0.04 5.90 5.94 2.75 4.44
Result showed that those exposed to co-operative learning strategy did better in physics
achievement test than their counterparts in the analogy group.

Research Question 2: What are the Physics mean Achievement Scores of students exposed to
Analogy teaching strategy and those exposed to combined Instrument strategy?

Table 2: Physics Mean achievement scores of students exposed to Analogy and Combined
Instructional Strategies
Group N Mean Mean Mean SD S.D Post test
Pretest Post test Gain Pretest
Analogy 43 19.86 51.12 31.26 12.86 20.49
Combined 51 20.74 69.73 48.99 15.61 12.86
Mean Diff 0.88 18.61 17.73 2.75 7.63

The result from table 2 showed that those exposed to combined instrument strategy did better in
physics achievement than those in analogy group.
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Research Question 3: What are the Physics mean Achievement Scores of students exposed to
co-operative learning strategy and those exposed to analogy and co-operative combined
Instrument strategy?

Table 3: Physics Mean achievement Scores of students in Co-operative and combined groups
Group N Mean Pretest Mean Post Test Mean SD Pretest S.D Post test
Gain
Analogy 43 19.82 57.02 37.16 15.61 16.05
Combined 51 20.74 69.72 48.98 15.63 12.86
Mean Diff 0.92 12.70 11.82 0.02 3.19

Research Question 4: What is the influence of gender on the achievement of physics students
taught using the different Instructional strategies?

Table 4: Physics Mean achievement Scores of Male and Female students taught with the three different
strategies
Gender N Mean Mean Post Mean Gain SD Pretest S.D Post
Pretest test test
Male 77 21.12 57.61 36.49 16.35 19.36
Female 62 19.00 62.65 43.65 12.44 16.45
Mean Diff 2.12 5.04 7.16 3.91 2.91

Result from the table show that the female students performed better that the male students
taught with the different instructional strategies.

Hypothesis One: There is no significant difference in the physics mean achievement scores
among students taught with the three different strategies.

Table 5: SUMMARY OF ANCOVA test of difference in physics mean achievement scores of

treatment groups.
Source Sum of Df mean f sig
squares square
Corrected 9956.23 6 1659.37 6.099 .000
Pretest 383.07 1 383.07 1.408 0238
Group 7250.57 2 2625.29 13.33 .000
Error 35912.89 132 272.07
Corrected 45869.12 138
Intercept 1554363.73 1 155436.73 571.32 .000
Significant at 0.5 df =2 and 135

From table 5, F (2, 132) = 13.33 P=0.000<0.005. Thus hypothesis one above is rejected showing
that there is a sig diff in physics achievement scores b/w students taught with the three
instructional strategies.
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To indicate the direction of the difference between the groups a post-hoc table using pair-wise
comparison was computated.

Table 6: A pair wise comparison of mean scores for the three instructional strategies (group).

Experimental Treatment Group(S) Mean Sig Std

Difference
Analogy Co-operative -5.91 .250 3.53
Combined -18.61 .000 3.43
Co-operative Analogy 5.91 .250 3.53
Combined -12.70 .000 3.39
Combined Analogy 18.61 .000 3.43
Co-operative 12.70 .000 3.39

The post hoc pair wise indicates no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of
physics students between groups taught using analogy instructional strategy and co-operative
learning instructional strategies.

Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference between male and female students’ scores
taught with different instructional strategies.

Table five shows that it is not significant 0.05; df = 18132. From table 5 F (1,132) = 2.082 P = .
15>0.05. Thus hypothesis two is not rejected. It was therefore concluded that there is no
significant diff in physics mean achievement scores between male and female students taught
with the three different instructional strategies.

Discussion

The findings of the study showed that students taught with co-operative learning instructional
strategy performed slightly better than those taught with analogy. Equally, the students taught
with analogy and co-operative instructional strategies performed better than those taught with
one strategy. This is due to the fact that the combined effect of the two strategies enhanced the
achievement of the students. The students were able to discuss among themselves and controlled
their own learning, this was shown in their mean achievement scores. This finding is in line with
the findings of Merarech (2005) and Johnson (2009) who in their separate studies found that co-
operative learning and analogy enhanced students achievement better that individualistic
learning.

This is due to the fact that analogy and co-operative learning combined effect, helped the
students to study better and it generally improved their achievement and overall performance in
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physics. This shows that when students are monitored to study on their own, the overall output is
very positive to both their understanding of concepts and achievement at the examinations. The
fact that physics is an abstract subject with a lot of calculations means that in teaching students,
an approach like this analogy and co-operative learning where students can study in groups and
discuss ideas, solve calculations on their own with occasional guidance from their teacher is to
be encouraged.

Gender bias in sciences is equally an issue in many studies and research but in this study, the
finding is that female students performed slightly better than male students. This significant
differences between the male and female students is supported by the studies of Nworgu (2001),
Okeke (1990) and Ifeakor (2003) who showed in their separate studies that female students
performed better than the male students in physics in their own location Enugu Education Zone
of Enugu State.

Educational Implications of the Findings

Educational implication of the findings is that since physics is a subject that requires calculations
and formulars, there is need for teachers to use innovative teaching methods like analogy and co-
operative learning. These strategies will make the students to be more active in their learning and
when the students control their learning, they have more input, more thinking and more
understanding of the concepts to be learned.
Thus the viable means of analogy and co-operative learning should be harnessed by teachers and
educators as they improved achievement of students in physics as recorded in this study.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made
1. Teachers should be educated through in-service training, seminars and workshops on the
use of analogy and co-operative learning instructional strategy so that they will put these in
use in their classroom teachings.
2. Students should be encouraged to be learning in groups as provided by co-operative
learning as these will enhance and improve better understanding of concepts and in-turn
enhance their achievements not only in physics but in the sciences and other subjects.

References
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