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Journal Plus Education Vol. XXX, no1/2022 p.254-265
254
ENHANCING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF
SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN BIOLOGY USING
MNEMONIC INTEGRATED INSTRUCTION
Izunna Shedrack NWUBA
is.nwuba@unizik.edu.ng
Sussan Onyebuchi EGWU
os.egwu@unizik.edu.ng
Abigail Mgboyibo OSUAFOR
am.osuafor@unizik.edu.ng
DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE EDUCATION
NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY, AWKA
Abstract: Although the use of innovative instructional methods in teaching
in the 21st century has been recognized to promote the
acquisition of the skills needed by individuals to survive in the
modern globalized society, these methods however to an
extent have failed to achieve their main aim which is geared
towards helping students excel in various aspects of
examination, as in using these methods alone, students tend to
acquire these skills but to an extent not easily recall the simple
facts needed to pass most external examinations. In this light,
the researcher sought out to find out if the integration of
mnemonic instructions into these teaching methods will help
students recall facts easily and hence perform better in
examinations. To achieve the purpose of the study, two
research questions and three null hypotheses tested at 0.05
alpha levels guided the study. The study adopted a quasi-
experimental research design, specifically, the pretest posttest
non-randomized control group design. The population of the
study comprised all the 4,627 SS2 students in the
62government owned schools in Awka Education Zone. A
sample size of 43 students drawn from two intact classes were
selected for the study using multi-stage sampling procedure.
Biology Achievement Test (BAT) validated by three experts
with a reliability co-efficient of 0.89, established using Kuder-
Richardson 20, was used for data collection. The data
obtained for the study were analyzed using mean and standard
Journal Plus Education Vol. XXX, no1/2022 p.254-265
255
deviation in answering the research questions and Analysis of
Covariance (ANCOVA) in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05
alpha level. The findings of the study revealed that integrating
mnemonics into teaching methods was very effective in
enhancing students’ achievement in Biology irrespective of
gender. Thus, it was recommended among others that biology
teachers should integrate mnemonics in their classroom
instruction as it makes the classroom lively, entertaining and,
when effectively implemented, enhances students’ academic
achievement.
Keywords: Mnemonic Integrated Instruction; Academic Achievement;
Biology
Introduction
Biology is one of the science subjects studied in Nigerian secondary
schools. Asuzu and Okoli (2019) defined it as a natural science that studies the
living world; how it functions, what these functions are, how living things
came into existence and their interaction with each other and their
environment. It is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living
organisms (Nwuba & Osuafor, 2021). Hence, it is a branch of science that
studies living things and their interactions with each other and their
environment.
Biology, as a subject, is very important in nation building as well as
scientific and technological development. Uzoma and Okoli (2019) opined
that a sound knowledge of biology is needed in our everyday lives as well as
in many fields of study and industries such as medicine, pharmacy, nursing,
agriculture, and engineering. On a similar note, Pat-Anyaeji and Okeke (2019)
emphasized that the knowledge of biology helps one in understanding the
world in its natural processes and with the knowledge obtained create a better
environment to live in. Hence, biology, in general, provides the knowledge
applied in every sphere of life today ranging from food production,
environmental protection, conservation of resources, bioengineering and
agriculture, prompting its inclusion in the secondary school curriculum in
Nigerian secondary schools.
Considering the above advantages and the subject’s nature of little or
no mathematical calculations, Akubuilo (2014) opined that the biology has
popularity among students and as a result has the highest enrollment by
students in external examinations when compared to other science subjects.
Notwithstanding its importance and popularity among students, the recorded
Journal Plus Education Vol. XXX, no1/2022 p.254-265
256
performance of students in the subject in external examinations over the years
has remained unsatisfactory and inconsistent as seen in the statistic report of
WAEC from 2015-2019. In 2015, for aggregate of A1-C6, a percentage pass
of 57.42 was recorded, 61.68% in 2016, 55.57% in 2017, 55.10% in 2018 and
55.63% in 2019 showing that students’ performance in the subject over the
years has remained slightly above average. Many researchers (Uzoma &
Okoli, 2019, Ufommadu & Okoli, 2019; Nwuba & Osuafor, 2021) have
attributed this unsatisfactory performance to many factors among which
include lack of adequate laboratory facilities and instructional aids,
unconducive learning environment, high student-teacher ratio, wide content of
secondary school biology curriculum and most importantly, the predominant
use of conventional methods of teaching in the classroom.
Conventional methods of teaching refer to approaches to teaching
involving the teacher in front of the learner’s disseminating information and
the learners taking down the information. Ufommadu and Okoli (2019)
described them as teacher-centred methods frequently utilized in the
classroom that involves less participation on the part of students. These
methods although widely recognized and utilized by teachers in the classroom
because of their wide range of advantages which include faster coverage of a
large content within a short time, development of students’ listening, language
and secretarial skills as well as their usefulness in teaching a large population
according to Paris (2014) have been criticized by many because of their
shortcomings in achieving a lesson stated objectives. These shortcomings of
conventional methods have driven education stakeholders to search of
alternative approaches that may be employed to enhance achievement of
students in the classroom, this ushered in the era of innovative teaching
methods.
Innovative methods of teaching are activity-based and student-centred
pedagogical approaches of learning that puts the learners first and foremost in
any teaching and learning process. Nwuba (2021) described them as
instructional methods that brings knowledge to the doorstep of learners
through actively engaging them in the learning process. Positively, In the
recent times, several research reports (Nwuba & Osuafor, 2021; Odukwe,
2018) have shown that through these innovative methods, the 4C STEM
(Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering) skills of creativity,
critical thinking, collaboration, and communication are acquired effectively
but a thorough perusal of the WAEC statistic reports of students in biology, as
reported above, have shown that the academic achievement of students in the
subject in external examinations have still not increased yet to the expectancy
of educational stakeholders. In this light, the researcher advocated for the
integration of mnemonic instruction into these teaching methods (both
conventional and innovational) to see if it which will go a long way in helping
Journal Plus Education Vol. XXX, no1/2022 p.254-265
257
students remember simple biology facts and thus help improve their
achievement in external examinations.
Mnemonic integrated instruction emphasizes on learning for long term
retention as it is specifically designed to improve memory. Jurowski, Jurowska
and Krzeckowska (2015) defined it as a memory-enhancing pedagogical
method aimed at improving learning and information recall through the use of
mnemonics. Solso (2005) defined mnemonics as devices that help learners
learn faster, recall better while keeping learners motivated and the classroom
very interesting. Hence in the context of this study, mnemonic integrated
instruction can be defined as an instructional strategy that involves the
inculcation of memory enhancing devices within the teaching and learning
process with the aim of making learning activity-based, fun-filled, and
interesting.
Mnemonic devices vary and are of different types that teachers and
learners may employ. Thompson (as cited in Amirousefi & Ketabi, 2011)
identified five classes of mnemonics namely: Linguistic, Spatial, Visual,
Physical response and Verbal methods. Linguistic mnemonics, which include
the pegword, keyword and letter methods (acronyms, abbreviations and
acrostics), involve associating the new concept to be learnt with familiar
words, phrases and/or sentences to help remember the concept. Spatial
mnemonics, which include the loci, spatial grouping and finger methods,
involve connecting the new concept to a familiar place, pattern or finger to
help in memorization of the material. Visual mnemonics make use of pictures
or visualizations to create an association to the target concepts (e.g. symbols,
pictographs). Physical response methods make use of the body parts or
gestures to aid in remembrance, either through movement or physical
sensation while the verbal method uses meaning, rhymes, songs and stories in
the form of grouping or semantic organization and story-telling or narrative
chains to help students remember.
In his study, Koksal (2013) opined that these devices play an important
role not only in the course of learning words but also in remembering the learnt
words. Similarly, Lerner (2003) noted that the major difficult task in
developing mnemonic strategies is the cognitive thinking needed to find a way
to relate the new information to the information students already have locked
in their long-term memory, but once this cognitive thinking is developed in
teachers and students, the mnemonic instruction becomes easily and
efficiently utilized because of its following advantages: it is an inexpensive
strategy that can be used to teach a large population with learners still actively
involved in the lesson, can be used to cover a large content in a short time, no
specific level of teaching experience is required to learn or use the strategy
and, there is no additional costs for purchase of its material or technology. In
light of its advantages, this research work hinged on finding out if integrated
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258
mnemonic instruction will help boost students’ academic achievement in
biology.
Academic achievement is described as the gain in one’s knowledge as
a result of taking part in a learning activity or programme. Uwaleke and Offiah
(2013) described it as a student’s performance on a standard of measurement
such as performance test, skill test or analytical thinking test. This simply
implies that academic achievement is a result-oriented output that explains the
extent of one’s performance in a desired task. In the context of this study,
academic achievement therefore refers to one’s performance in a test after
exposure to an educational programme over a period of time irrespective of
gender.
Gender is a social construct given to male and female. Ezeh (2013)
described it as expectations held about the characteristics, attitudes and likely
behaviour of both men and women (masculinity and feminity) in the society.
Hence, gender is simply an attribute ascribed to male and female based on
biological characteristics. Issues on gender influence on students’
achievement in biology for over the years has remain inconsistent and
inconclusive. For instance, while many researchers (Nwuba & Osuafor, 2021;
Uzoma & Okoli, 2019) have reported in their various studies in biology that
gender has no significant influence on students’ achievement, some (Pat-
Anyaeji & Okeke, 2019; Egwu & Okigbo, 2021) reported that male
students achieve higher than female students in biology.
This inconclusive results on gender calls for further investigation to
find out if gender influences students’ academic achievement in biology or
not. Therefore, in this study, gender differences in academic achievement
among secondary school students’ taught biology using mnemonic integrated
instruction was also investigated. It is against this backdrop that the researcher
deemed it necessary to find out if the use of MIS can enhance secondary school
students’ academic achievement in biology in Awka Education Zone.
Statement of the Problem
The role of biology in national development and wealth creation
cannot be overemphasized, this is probably why most secondary schools in
Nigeria offer it as a pre-vocational subject for its science and art students,
aimed at preparing them for life in a competitive global economy after school.
Despite these importance, students’ performance in the subject in both internal
and external examinations over the years have remained unsatisfactory. Many
researchers till today have attributed this unsatisfactory performance of
students in biology to several factors of which most emphasis has been placed
on the conventional teaching methods that dominates the classrooms, which
makes the teaching and learning of the subject uninteresting, and students’
achievement in the subject unsatisfactory.
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259
To curtail this trend, several efforts have been made in the past and
present by the government at all levels of Education through the provision of
resources as well as organization of conferences, workshops, and seminars to
educate teachers on innovative methods and strategies to improve student’s
achievement in the subject, but still little/ or inconsistent improvement have
been recorded over the years. In this light, the research sought to find out if
integrating mnemonic instruction into teaching strategies will help improve
students’ performance in the subject.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study
1. What is the difference in the pretest posttest mean achievement scores
of students taught biology using mnemonic integrated instruction and
those taught using conventional lecture method?
2. What is the difference in the pretest posttest mean achievement scores
of male and female students taught biology using mnemonic integrated
instruction?
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of
significance.
1. No significant difference exists between the mean achievement scores
of students taught Biology using mnemonic integrated instruction and
that of those taught using conventional lecture method.
2. No significant difference exists between the mean achievement scores
of male and female students taught Biology with mnemonic integrated
instruction.
3. There is no interaction effect of gender and teaching methods on
students’ academic achievement in biology
Method
The research adopted a quasi-experimental research design.
Specifically, the pretest posttest non-randomized control group research
design. The population of the study comprised all the 4,627 SS2 students in
the 62government owned secondary schools in Awka Education Zone,
Anambra State. 43 SS2 biology students in two intact classes sampled from
two secondary schools in the zone using multi-stage sampling procedure
constituted the sample of the study. A Biology Achievement Test (BAT)
developed by the researchers from compiled SSCE biology past questions was
used for data collection. The 25-item multiple choice objective test question
with four response options lettered A-D was developed using a well-structured
table of specifications to ensure content coverage. The instrument (BAT) was
validated by three experts (two from the Department of Science Education and
one from Department of Educational foundations, Measurement and
Journal Plus Education Vol. XXX, no1/2022 p.254-265
260
Evaluation) all from Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University,
Awka, Anambra State. To ascertain the reliability of the instrument, the BAT
was administered to a class of 40 students in Aguata Education zone, who are
not part of the study, and using Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR-20) formula, a
reliability coefficient of 0.89 was obtained showing that the instrument was
highly reliable.
The experiment commenced with the two intact classes sampled from
two different schools in the zone being assigned to control and experimental
group using a toss of a coin. After this, the BAT was administered to both
groups which served as the pretest score. After the pre-testing, the actual
experiment commenced with the briefing of the biology teachers who were
used for the study. The teacher for the experimental group was briefed on MIS,
its types and how to properly integrate the instruction when teaching in the
classroom while the teacher for the control group was asked to teach as usual
with lesson plans developed by the researcher. After the briefing, the teaching
exercise for the two groups commenced for a period of 4 weeks. After the
period of teaching, a posttest was administered to both groups, which served
as the post test score. The data obtained from the two tests were analyzed using
mean and standard deviation in answering the research questions and
ANCOVA in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.
Results
Research Question One: What is the difference in the pretest posttest mean
achievement scores of students taught Biology using mnemonic integrated
instruction and those taught using only conventional lecture method?
Table 1: Mean Achievement and Standard Deviation Scores of students taught
biology using MIS and those taught with CLM
Pretest
Posttest
Method
N
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Mean
Std. Dev.
Gain in
mean
MIS
21
12.55
0.68
19.18
0.76
6.63
CLM
22
11.48
0.76
13.86
0.88
2.38
Mean
Difference
1.07
5.32
4.25
Table 1 shows the various means and standard deviation scores on
achievement of students taught Biology using MIS (experimental group) and
those taught using CLM (control group). From table 1 above, Experimental
group had the mean achievement scores of 12.55 and 19.18 in the pretest and
posttest respectively while their counterparts taught with CLM had
achievement mean scores of 11.48 in the pretest and 13.86 in the posttest. The
mean difference of the gains in mean for MIS and CLM, revealed that students
Journal Plus Education Vol. XXX, no1/2022 p.254-265
261
in the experimental group achieved higher than those in the control group with
a mean difference of 4.25. The result indicated that integrating the various
types of mnemonics in the lesson when teaching biology highly increased
students’ academic achievement more than CLM.
Research Question two: What is the difference in the mean achievement
scores of male and female students taught Biology using mnemonic integrated
instruction?
Table 2: Mean Achievement and Standard Deviation Scores of male and
female students taught biology using MIS
Pretest
Posttest
Gender
N
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Gain in
mean
Male
8
11.87
0.93
19.50
1.12
7.63
Female
14
12.92
0.93
19.00
1.04
6.08
Mean
Difference
22
1.05
0.50
1.55
Table 2 above shows that for the experimental group, the male students
had a mean achievement scores of 11.87 and 19.50 in the pretest and posttest
respectively while their female counterparts had 12.92 in the pretest and 19.00
in the posttest. The mean difference in the gains in mean for the male and
female students taught biology using mnemonics integrated instruction is 1.55.
From the gains in means, it can be deduced that male students achieved higher
than the female students when both are taught selected concepts in biology
using mnemonic integrated instruction.
Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference between the mean
achievement scores of students taught biology using MIS and that of those
taught with CLM.
Analysis of hypothesis one is presented in table 3.
Table 3: ANCOVA Test of Significant Difference between the Mean
Achievement Scores of Students Taught Biology Using MIS and those
Taught Using CLM
Dependent Variable: pretest
Source
Type III Sum of
Squares
Df
Mean
Square
F
Sig.
Corrected
Model
304.936
a
4
76.234
17.6
60
.000
Intercept
4.112
1
4.112
.953
.335
Posttest
238.985
1
238.985
55.3
61
.000
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262
METHOD
49.205
1
49.205
11.3
98
.002
METHOD *
gender
31.634
1
31.634
7.32
8
.010
Error
164.041
38
4.317
Total
6685.000
43
Corrected Total
468.977
42
a. R Squared = .650 (Adjusted R Squared = .613)
The result of the two-way ANCOVA from table 3 above shows that
the F-value is 11.98 and P-value is .002. Since the P-value is less than 0.05
level of significance at df 1 and 38, the null hypothesis is rejected. This shows
that there is a significant difference between the mean achievement scores of
students taught biology with MIS (experimental group) and that of those
taught with CLM (control group) in favour of those in the experimental group.
This indicates that integrating mnemonic devices in teaching biology concepts
is a significant factor in academic achievement of students in the experimental
group.
Hypothesis 2: No significant difference exists between the mean achievement
scores of male and female students taught biology using MIS.
Analysis of hypothesis two is presented in table 4
Table 4: ANCOVA Test of Significant Difference between the Mean
Achievement Scores of Male and Female Students Taught Biology Using
MIS
Dependent Variable: pretest
Source
Type III Sum of
Squares
Df
Mean
Square
F
Sig.
Corrected
Model
135.435a
2
67.718
16.491
.000
Intercept
.690
1
.690
.168
.686
Posttest
129.785
1
129.785
31.606
.000
Gender
9.953
1
9.953
2.424
.136
Error
78.019
19
4.106
Total
3676.000
22
Corrected
Total
213.455
21
a. R Squared = .634 (Adjusted R Squared = .596)
The result of the two-way ANCOVA from table 4 above shows that
the F-value is 2.424 and P-value is 0.136. Since the P-value is greater than
0.05 level of significance at df 1 and 19, the null hypothesis is not rejected.
This shows that there is no significant difference in the mean achievement
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scores of male and female students taught biology using inquiry approach with
mnemonics. Hence, indicating that the use of MIS in teaching students is not
gender biased.
Hypothesis 4: There is no interaction effect of gender and teaching methods
on students’ academic achievement in biology
The result of the two-way ANCOVA from table 3 above shows that F-
value is 7.328 and P-value is 0.010. Since the P-value is less than 0.05 alpha
levels at df 1 and 38, the null hypothesis is rejected. Showing that there is
interaction effect of gender and methods of teaching on the academic
achievement of students in biology.
Figure 1: Profile Plot of Interaction Effect of Teaching Methods and Gender
on the Achievement of Students in Biology
Discussion of findings
The finding of the study showed that the students taught biology with
MIS gained in achievement more than the students taught using Conventional
Lecture Method (CLM). The finding of this study lends credence to the
findings of Anandhi and Raja (2015), Akinsola and Odeyemi (2014), Nja,
Idiege and Obi (2017) and Khoo (2012) who reported in their studies in basic
science, mathematics, chemistry, and economics respectively that students
taught science related subjects using mnemonics achieved higher than their
counterparts in the control group.
On the influence of gender, the study revealed that the males achieved
higher than the females. However, on testing the null hypothesis in table 4, it
was revealed that the difference is not significant. The finding of this study
supports the findings of Akinsola and Odeyemi (2014), Chikwendu (2018)
who revealed in their studies that gender has no influence on students’
academic achievement.
On interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on achievement
of students in biology, the finding of the study revealed that there was
interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on students’ achievement in
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264
biology. From the findings, it can be deduced that the use of integration of
mnemonics in the teaching and learning process produced more positive effect
on students learning achievement as they are gender friendly devices that
encourages retention. Hence, students will achieve better if teachers
incorporate mnemonics in teaching biology at senior secondary schools in
Nigeria.
Conclusion
Based on the findings, the study concluded that MIS positively
improved students’ achievement in biology irrespective of gender more than
CLM.
Recommendations
In the light of the findings of the study, the following recommendations were
made:
1. Biology teachers in secondary schools should integrate MIS when
teaching to improve students’ academic achievement in biology.
2. Seminars, symposia, workshops, and conferences should be organized
for biology teachers by the government, education stakeholders and
professional bodies (STAN) to familiarize teachers with mnemonics
and its types as well as how to integrate it in the teaching and learning
process.
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