Effects of Advance Organizers on Students’ Achievement in Biology in Secondary Schools in Kilifi County, Kenya

Abstract

<p><em>This study investigated the effects of using advance organizers on students’ achievement in biology in secondary schools in Kilifi County. </em><em>Solomon Four, Non-Equivalent control group design was used in this study. The study targeted all secondary school students in Kilifi County. The accessible population consisted of all form two students in Kilifi County. Purposive sampling was used to select four co-educational secondary schools in Kilifi County. The four schools were randomly assigned to experimental groups (E<sub>1</sub>) and (E<sub>2</sub>) and control groups C<sub>1</sub> and C<sub>2</sub>. A total of 156 students participated in the study. Data was collected using Biology Achievement Test (BAT). The reliability of BAT was estimated using Kuder-Richardson (K-R) 20 and Cronbach’s coefficient. This yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.82 and 0.79 respectively. BAT was validated by experts in science education from Egerton University. The data collected was analyzed using mean, </em><em>o</em><em>ne-way ANOVA and t</em><em>-</em><em>test. The level of significance was 0.05. The findings of this study show that there was statistically significant difference in achievement between learners in favour of those taught using advance organizers compared to those taught using conventional teaching methods. The findings also indicate that there was no statistically significant gender difference in achievement.</em><em></em></p>

The Effect of Conflict-Cognitive Strategy in Inquiry Learning towards Pre-Service Teachers’ Critical Thinking Ability

“…Theoretical studies showed that advance organizers are a form of cognitive thinking stimulation in learning that could encourage motivation, and also the information conveyed at the beginning of learning is more meaningful (Shihusa& Keraro, 2009). Advance organizers in the form of presenting information that bridges new learning materials and related ideas that exist (Omondi et al, 2018). Advance organizers could be used by pre-service teachers to organize and interpret the information they can apply for further learning (Safdar et al, 2014).…”

Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance through Advance Organizers in a Cooperative Learning Classroom at a Senior High School in the Ashanti Region, Ghana

“…It is a relevant material introduced to the learners before the lesson to help them understand, retain and remember the new learning material (Somashekhara & Dange, 2020). Past research, exemplified by investigations conducted by Omondi et al (2018) and Awodun and Boris (2021) underscores the positive impact of advance organisers. These studies reveal improved student retention and participation, resulting in increased achievement across diverse contexts and secondary school settings.…”