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International Academic Journal of Education & Literature
ISSN Print : 2708-5112 | ISSN Online : 2708-5120
Frequency : Bi-Monthly
Language : English
Origin : Kenya
Website : https://iarconsortium.org/journal/IAJEL/details/
1
Effect of Four Mode Application Technique on Biology Students
Retention of Biology Concepts in Secondary Schools in Delta State
Abstract: The study examined the effect of four mode application technique on
Biology students’ retention of Biology concepts in secondary schools in Delta
State. The population of the study consisted of all senior secondary school two
(SS2) Biology students in Delta State, with a population of 31, 572. The sample
size of the study was 225 Biology students. Six schools were randomly selected
using withdrawal with replacement approach. The study adopted the pretest posttest
delayed posttest quasi-experimental design. The instrument utilised for data
collection was the Biology Achievement Test (BAT). The collected data was
evaluated by employing mean, standard deviation, independent sample t-test and
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The findings of the study are: there is a significant
difference in the mean retention scores of Biology students taught with four-mode
application technique and those taught with lecture method in favour of the 4MAT
group; there is no significant difference in the mean retention of male and female
students taught Biology with 4MAT application technique; there is no significant
interaction effect of method and sex on students’ retention in Biology. It was
concluded that the four-mode application technique has a significant effect on
students retention as it helps students to retain what is being taught/learned. The
study recommends that Biology teachers should use the four-mode (4MAT)
application technique to teach their students to help them retain Biology concepts
taught and teachers should be trained on how to teach using the four-mode (4MAT)
application technique.
Keywords: Four-Mode Application Technique, Retention, Biology, Biology
Concepts, Gender.
INTRODUCTION
Biology is a core subject that is offered by pure science secondary
school students in Nigeria who want to study medicine, nursing,
pharmacology and related courses. Biology is the science of life. Therefore, its importance cannot be overemphasized. In
spite of the significance of Biology, there is low retention rate of Biology concepts by Biology students and this has
become worrisome. The ability to remember and make use of past knowledge and experience is known as retention.
Retention of learning is the process of storing new information in long-term memory in a format that facilitates easy
retrieval. There is a lot of cross-over between the fields of memory and retention research, but what really separates the
two is the requirement that students demonstrate contextual recall in response to a prompt in order for material to be
considered kept. Morris (2000) stated that when a stimulating situation occurs, retained images are revived or reproduced
to make memorization possible. Okoye (2012) defined retention as the process of maintaining the availability of new
meanings or some part of them. He said that active participation during instruction increases learning and retention. This
low retention ability of Biology students in concepts is attributed to the teaching method used by Biology teacher to teach
the subject, which is the lecture method. The lecture method used by Biology teachers to teach their students does not
bring about active involvement of the students as the students are passive in the class.
Studies by Kurumeh et al., (2012) and Ajayi and Ogbeba (2017) showed low students retention rate in Nigerian
secondary schools. This low retention rate has been attributed to the use of ineffective and inappropriate teaching
methods by teachers, which is the lecture method. This lecture method does not help Biology students to retain what is
being taught and practiced at a later time. It does not bring about transfer of learning. To solve this problem, there is need
to actively engage Biology students in the teaching learning process to help them retain what is being taught using active
learning strategies such as the four-mode.
Research Article
Article History
Received: 22.02.2022
Revision: 09.03.2022
Accepted: 18.03.2022
Published: 20.03.2022
Author Details
Chukwuka Rita Ewere* and Ijeh Sunday
Bomboi
Authors Affiliations
Department Of Science Education, Delta State
University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria
Corresponding Author*
CHUKWUKA RITA EWERE
How to Cite the Article:
Chukwuka Rita Ewere & Ijeh Sunday
Bomboi. (2022); Effect of Four Mode
Application Technique on Biology Students
Retention of Biology Concepts in Secondary
Schools in Delta State. Int Aca J Edu Lte. 3(6);
1-4.
Copyright @ 2022: This is an open-access
article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution license which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium for non
commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY-NC)
provided the original author and source are
credited.
Chukwuka Rita Ewere & Ijeh Sunday Bomboi; Int Aca J Edu Lte; Vol-3, Iss-6(Nov-Dec, 2022): 1-4.
2
The four-mode teaching technique is that which
organizes instruction to take care of the different
learning styles of students as well as their hemispheric
preferences (McCarthy, 2006). The main purpose of
developing the 4MAT is to employ a beneficial learning
environment. This model is grounded on the premise
that individuals perceive and process information in
different ways. The 4MAT application technique was
developed by McCarthy in 1972. The theories she used
were the Kolb’s experiential learning theory and the
brain dominance theory.
RQs
i. What is the difference in the mean retention score of
Biology students instructed taught with 4MAT and
those instructed with lecture method?
ii. What is the difference in the mean retention score of
male and female Biology students instructed with
4MAT?
iii. Is there any interaction effect of method and sex on
Biology students’ retention?
Hypotheses
i. There is no statistically significant difference in the
mean retention score of Biology students instructed
with 4MAT and those taught with lecture method.
ii. There is no statistically significant difference in the
mean retention score of male and female Biology
students instructed with 4MAT.
iii. There is no statistically significant interaction effect
of methods and sex on Biology students retention.
METHODOLOGY
This study adopted the pre-test and posttest delayed
posttest quasi-experimental design. Quasi-experimental
design was utilised for this study because intact classes
were used. The independent variable for the study was
the four-mode application technique. The dependent
variable was retention while gender was used as a
moderator variable in the study. The study population
comprised of all senior secondary school two (SS II)
Biology students. The population comprised of 31,512.
Six schools were randomly selected using withdrawal
with replacement approach. This produced a sample of
225 Senior Secondary School II Biology students. The
Biology Achievement Test (BAT) was utilised for data
gathering/collection. The BAT consisted of 40 multiple
choice items. The instrument served as a pretest,
posttest, and a delayed posttest. Statistical mean was
used to provide answer to research questions.
Hypothesis 1 and 2 were tested using independent
sample t-test while hypothesis 3 was analysed with
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of
significance.
RESULT
RQ 1: What is the difference in the mean retention
score of Biology students instructed with 4MAT and
those instructed with lecture method?
Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of Mean Comparing the Mean Retention of Biology Students instructed with 4MAT and
those instructed with Lecture Method
Groups
N
diff
SD
4MAT
112
47.05
25.99
14.26
Lecture
113
21.06
2.50
Table 1 above shows the descriptive statistics of
mean showing the difference in mean retention scores
of biology students instructed with 4MAT and those
instructed with lecture method. From the table, 4MAT
group had a higher mean retention of 47.05 with a
standard deviation of 14.26 and the lecture method
group had a lower mean retention of 21.06 with a
standard deviation 2.50. This indicates that there is a
difference in the mean retention of Biology students
instructed with 4MAT and those with lecture method.
Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference in the
mean retention of Biology students instructed with
4MAT and those instructed with lecture method.
Table 2: Independent Sample t-test Comparing Retention Score of Biology Students instructed with 4MAT and those
instructed with Lecture Method
Group
N
diff
SD
Df
t-cal
Sig. (2-tailed)
Decision
4MAT
112
47.05
25.99
14.26
223
17.26
.000
H04 Rejected
Lecture
113
21.06
2.50
P<0.05
Table 2 shows the result of independent sample t-
test indicating the difference in retention of Biology
students instructed with 4MAT and those instructed
with lecture method. The result showed that the
calculated sig. value of 0.000 is less than 0.05 alpha
level of significance (P<0.05). This indicates that there
is a significant difference in the retention of Biology
students instructed with 4MAT and those instructed
with lecture method. Therefore, hypothesis 1 which
states that there is no significant difference in the
retention of Biology students instructed with 4MAT and
those instructed with lecture method is rejected. Hence
there is a significant difference in the retention of
Chukwuka Rita Ewere & Ijeh Sunday Bomboi; Int Aca J Edu Lte; Vol-3, Iss-6(Nov-Dec, 2022): 1-4.
2
biology students instructed with 4MAT and those
instructed with lecture method in favour of the 4MAT
group.
RQ2: What is the difference in the mean retention of
male and female Biology students instructed with
4MAT?
Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of Mean and Standard Deviation Comparing the Retention of Male and Female Biology
Students Instructed with 4MAT
Groups
N
diff
SD
Male
52
47.12
0.12
15.03
Female
60
47.00
13.68
Table 3 showed the retention of male and female
Biology students instructed with 4MAT. The result
from the table showed that male Biology students had a
mean retention of 47.12 with a standard deviation of
15.03 while the female Biology students had a mean
retention of 47.00 with a standard deviation of 13.68.
This indicates that there is a difference in the mean
retention of male and female Biology students
instructed with 4MAT in favour of male Biology
students. To determine if the difference is significant,
independent sample t-test was used to test H02 and the
result is shown in table 4.
H02: There is no significant difference in the mean
retention of male and female Biology students
instructed with 4MAT.
Table 4: Independent Sample T-Test Showing the Mean Retention of Male and Female Biology Students Instructed with
4MAT
Group
N
diff
SD
df
t-cal
Sig. (2-tailed)
Decision
Male
52
47.12
0.12
15.03
110
.043
.966
H08 not Rejected
Female
60
47.00
13.68
P<0.05
Table 4 presents the results of independent sample t-
test which compared the difference in the mean
retention of male and female Biology students
instructed with 4MAT. The result demonstrates that the
calculated sig. value of 0.966 is greater than the alpha
level of 0.05 significance (p>0.05). This indicates that
there is no statistically significant difference in the
mean retention of male and female Biology students
instructed with 4MAT. Therefore, the null H02 is not
rejected.
RQ3: Is there any interaction effect of methods and sex
on Biology students’ retention?
Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of Mean and Standard Deviation Showing the Interaction Effect of Methods and Sex on
Biology Students’ Retention
Groups
Sex
N
SD
4MAT
Male
52
47.12
15.03
Female
60
47.00
13.68
112
Lecture
Male
58
21.98
6.69
Female
55
20.09
6.19
113
Table 5 presents the descriptive statistics of mean
comparing the interaction effect of methods and sex on
biology students’ retention. The result from the table
shows that the male Biology students instructed with
4MAT had a higher retention of 47.12 while the female
Biology students instructed with 4MAT had a retention
of 47.00 with a standard deviation of 13.68. The male
Biology students instructed with lecture method had a
retention of 21.98, while the female Biology students
instructed with lecture method had a mean retention of
20.09. The male students from both groups had the
highest mean scores when compared to their female
counterpart. This shows that there is an interaction
effect. To determine if the interaction is significant,
ANOVA statistics was used to test H03 and the result is
shown in table 6.
Ho3: There is no statistically significant interaction
effect of methods and sex on Biology students’
retention.
Chukwuka Rita Ewere & Ijeh Sunday Bomboi; Int Aca J Edu Lte; Vol-3, Iss-6(Nov-Dec, 2022): 1-4.
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Table 6: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Summary of Interaction Effect of methods and sex on Biology Students’
Retention
Source
Type III Sum of Square
df
Mean Square
F
Sig
Corrected Model
38101.164*
3
12700.388
103.203
.000
Intercept
260057.393
1
260057.393
2113.212
.000
Methods
37974.148
1
37974.148
308.576
.000
Sex
56.491
1
56.491
.459
.499
Methods * Sex
44.248
1
44.248
.360
.549
Error
27196.836
221
123.063
Total
325398.000
225
Corrected Total
65298.000
224
a. R Squared =.583 (Adjusted R Squared = .578)
Table 6 shows the result of Analysis of Variance
conducted to show the interaction effect of methods and
sex on Biology students’ retention. The table indicates
that the calculated sig. value of 0.549 is greater that the
critical sig. value of 0.05 (p > 0.05). This indicates that
the interaction effect is not significant. Therefore, H03
which states that there is no statistically significant
interaction effect of methods and sex on Biology
students’ retention is not rejected.
DISCUSSION OF RESULT
Result from hypothesis 1 on table 4 showed that
there is a significant difference in the retention of
Biology students instructed with 4MAT and those
instructed with lecture method. The students in the
4MAT group have significantly higher mean retention
than students in the lecture method group. This finding
concur with the studies carried out by researchers like
Khumwong and Singmuang (2013), Silver et al.,
(2011), Dounghathai (2001), Lee and Hang (2009),
Piyalux (2004), Pratoomtong (2011) and Nilita (2002)
who found out that instructions based on 4MAT
significantly improved students’ retention.
Result from hypothesis 2 on Table 5 revealed that
there is no statistically significant difference in the
retention of male and female Biology students
instructed with 4MAT. This indicates that male and
female Biology students instructed with 4MAT retained
equally. This finding agreed with that of Arighabu and
Mji (2004), Bilesanmi-Awoderu (2006), Freeman
(2002), Nwagbo and Obiekwe (2010), Lawal (2009)
and Olasehinde and Olatoye (2014) who stated that
there was no significant difference in the retention of
male and female students in science.
Results from hypothesis 3 on table 6 showed that
there is no significant interaction effect of methods and
sex on Biology students retention. This indicates that
the combined effects of method and sex did not
influence Biology students’ retention scores. In other
words, method and sex acted independently in affecting
Biology students’ retention scores. This finding agreed
with those of Ajaja (2013), Adeyemi (2012), Ezedinma
and Nwosu (2018) and Okotcha (2018) who in their
different studies discovered a no significant interaction
effect between method and sex on students’ retention.
CONCLUSION
Four-mode application techniques (4MAT)
significantly influenced the retention of Biology
students. This implies that 4MAT is enhances
students retention than the lecture method
Sex did not have significant effect on Biology
students’ retention. This indicates that the ability of
a student to retain what is being learned does not
depend on whether he or she is a male or female
No interaction between sex of students and
teaching method to influence Biology students’
retention scores.
Recommendations
1. Biology teachers should use the four-mode
application technique (4MAT) to teach their
students to help them retain what is being taught
since the 4MAT application technique significantly
influenced Biology students retention in the study
2. Teachers/educators should be trained on how to
teach using the four-mode application techniques.
This will help them teach efficiently and effectively
and improve students retention of concepts taught.
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