Abstract:
Basic science is a core subject taught at the Junior Secondary School level to introduce students to the world of science and prepare them for further education in science and technology. However, Learning Outcomes (LO) of students with hearing impairment in basic science have been low due to ineffectiveness in the teaching strategies. Previous studies have focused largely on predisposing student-related factors with little attention paid to outdoor classroom and pictorial illustration instructional strategies. This study, therefore, was carried out to determine the effects of Outdoor Classroom Instructional Strategy (OCIS) and Pictorial Illustration Strategy (PIS) on the learning outcomes (achievement in and attitude to Basic Science-BS) of students with hearing impairment in Ibadan, Nigeria. It also examined moderating effects of gender and onset of hearing loss.
Dual Coding and Behavioural theories provided the framework, while the pretest-posttest control group quasi experimental design with a 3x2x2 factorial matrix was adopted. Three integrated secondary schools in Ibadan were purposively selected on an equal basis. The purposive sampling technique was used to select 30 students with hearing impairment. Schools were randomly assigned to OCIS (10), PIS (10) and control (10) groups. The treatment lasted 12 weeks. The instruments used were Basic Science Achievement Test (r=0.79), Attitude to Basic Science Scale (r=0.67) and instructional guides. Data were analysed using Analysis of covariance and Duncan post-hoc test at 0.05 level of significance.
Participant’s age was 13.75 ± 2.50 years and 57.0% were males. There were significant main effects of treatment on students achievement in BS (F (2;21) = 38.86; partial η 2 = 0.78) and attitude to BS (F(2;21)=31.74; partial η 2 = 0.75). The participants exposed to PIS obtained the highest post-achievement mean score (43.10), followed by OCIS (36.80) and control (19.50) group. The participants exposed to PIS obtained the highest post-attitude mean score (31.00), followed by OCIS (25.80) and control (20.10) groups. There was a significant main effect of gender on achievement (F(1;21) =4.59; partial η2 = 0.28), but not on attitude. Male students obtained a higher post-achievement mean score (35.09) than females (31.10). There was a significantmain effect of onset of hearing loss on attitude to Basic Science (F(1;21) = -5.50;partial η2 =0.21), but not on achievement. Pre-lingual participants obtained a higher post attitude mean score (26.00) than post-lingual participants (24.17). The two-way and three-way interaction effects were not significant.
Outdoor classroom and pictorial illustration instructional strategies enhanced achievement of students’ with hearing impairment, especially males, in Basic Science in Ibadan, Nigeria. Special educators and basic science teachers should adopt these strategies towards improving the learning outcomes of students with hearing impairment in Basic Science.
