Effect of Cooperative Learning Strategy on Upper Basic Education II Students’ Performance and Interest in Basic Science and Technology in Benue State, Nigeria

The study examined the effect of cooperative learning strategy on Upper Basic Education II (UBE II) students’ performance and interest in Basic science and Technology in Benue State. A pretest post-test control group, non-equivalent quasi-experimental design was used for the study. The sample of 425 students was drawn from the population of 993 Upper Basic Education II students from Makurdi Local Government. Intact classes were randomly selected and assigned to experimental and control groups. Basic Science and Technology Performance Test (BSTPT) and Basic Science and Technology Interest Scale (BSTIS) researcher-design instrument were used for data collection. The two instruments BSTPT and BSTIS items were subjected to face and content validation. The reliability of the instruments was established using Kudar-Richarson formula 20 (K-R20) and Cronbach Alpha. The reliability coefficients of the instruments were found to be 0.78 and 0.79 respectively. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean performance and mean interest scores of students taught Basic science and Technology using cooperative learning strategy and those taught using lecture method (F (1,422) = 640.728, p 0.05). The study also revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean interest scores of male and female students taught Basic science and Technology using cooperative learning strategy (F(1,209) = 15.94, p