EFFECTS OF GUIDED DISCOVERY METHOD ON GEOGRAPHY ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS IN MANGU, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The study's main purpose was to investigate the effects of the guided discovery method on the Geography achievement of senior secondary school students in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State. Three research questions and three research hypotheses were answered and tested at a 0.05 level of significance, respectively. A quasi-experimental research design, particularly the non-equivalent pretest-posttest design, was adopted for the study. The stratified sampling techniques was used to select a sample of 90 students, consisting of 63 boys and 27 girls, for the study. The treatment for the experimental group was a guided discovery method, conducted over four weeks. The instrument used for data collection was the Geography Achievement Test (GAT). The reliability of GAT was computed using the Pearson Correlation method, which stood at 0.90. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research question, while the t-tests of independent samples and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to test the hypotheses. The results of the study showed that the guided discovery method had positive effects on senior secondary school students’ achievement in Geography, particularly map reading, environmental resources and regional geography of Nigeria. The results also revealed that there was a significant difference between public and private school students in achievement, there was no significant difference between gender groups. Therefore, it was recommended that Geography teachers should be trained through workshops on the guided discovery method for the effective teaching the subject in schools.