Using consensus and cooperative reflective journal writing instructional strategies to enhance students’ achievement in Biology

Abstract

Teachers are supposed to adapt their teaching-learning process based on classroom interaction to suit the learning conditions of learners to produce a complete learning community that is intellectually and behaviourally sound. This can only be achieved in a serene, friendly, and collaborative environment. This study determined the effects of consensus and cooperative reflective journal writing instructional strategies on students’ achievement in biology, with gender moderating at two levels. A pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design with a 3X2 factorial matrix was adopted. The treatment lasted for six weeks. The sample consisted of 305 senior secondary school II students in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo state, Nigeria. The instrument for data collection was the Students’ Biology Achievement Test (SBAT). The generated data were analysed using a two-way analysis of variance (ANCOVA) and the Bonferroni post-hoc test. The results of the study revealed that consensus and cooperative reflective journal writing strategies improved students’ achievement in biology. The results also revealed that gender affected students’ achievement in biology. Treatment and gender did not affect students’ achievement in biology. The study concluded that the strategies adopted enhance students’ achievement in biology and, therefore, recommended to be adopted in biology classrooms

Keywords

• student achievement
• consensus strategy
• cooperative reflective journal
• writing strategy
• gender.