Educational Research and Reviews Vol. 5 (7), pp.

347-353, July 2010

Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR2
ISSN 1990-3839 © 2010 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Effect of constructivist-based teaching strategy on

academic performance of students in integrated
science at the junior secondary school level
Oludipe Bimbola1 and Oludipe I. Daniel2*
1
Department of Curriculum Studies and Instructional Technology Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.
2
Biological Sciences Department, College of Science and Information Technology, Tai Solarin University of Education,
Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Accepted 17 May, 2010

Integrated science plays vital role in Nigerian science education programme because it prepares pupils
at the Junior Secondary School level for the study of core science subjects at the Senior Secondary
School level which in turn brings about students’ interest in science oriented courses at the tertiary
institutions. Despite government’s efforts to encourage science teaching and learning among Nigerian
students right from the Junior Secondary School level, the enrolment of students in core science
subjects and science oriented courses at the Senior Secondary School level and tertiary institutions
level respectively, is not encouraging. This is as a result of Junior Secondary School students’ negative
attitude towards integrated science. Research reports indicate that this negative attitude was caused,
majorly, by teachers’ conventional (lecture) method of teaching integrated science. Research reports on
the effectiveness of constructivist-based teaching strategy revealed that the strategy enhanced
students’ academic performance. In view of this, this study examines the effectiveness of
constructivist-based teaching strategy on academic performance in integrated science by Junior
Secondary School students in South-West Nigeria. Quasi-experimental research design was used to
achieve the purpose of this study. Participants were 120 Junior Secondary School Students randomly
selected from four out of the 25 co-educational Junior Secondary Schools in Ijebu-ode local
government area of ogun state, South-west Nigeria. Findings revealed that the constructivist instructed
students had higher scores on the post test and the delayed post test, compared to those exposed to
conventional (lecture) method of teaching. We concluded that if integrated science teachers could
incorporate constructivist-based teaching strategy into their teaching methods, there would be an
improvement in academic performance of Junior Secondary School Students in integrated science. The
researchers recommended that integrated science teachers should incorporate constructivist-based
teaching strategy in their methods of teaching.

Key words: Nigeria, constructivism, conventional (lecture), integrated science, academic performance, junior
secondary school III students.

INTRODUCTION

Critics of public education have argued that many concern of the critics has been the apparent inability of
Nigerian students do not possess the depth of knowledge many students to engage in complex problem-solving
or skills to assure either personal life success or national activities and to apply school knowledge and skills to
economic competitiveness (Akpan, 1996). A particular real-life problems in workplace settings (Akpan, 1996).
What teachers and schools face is a fundamental
redefinition of what it means to be a student or a teacher
and what it means to learn or to teach. Educators are
*Corresponding author. E-mail: daniel.oludipe@gmail.com. confronted with a paradigm shift in teaching and learning
348 Educ. Res. Rev.

which is driven by the increasing anomalies of the current extend their intellectual capabilities (Olarewaju, 1987).
educational system (Kim, 2002). High drop-out rates, low One proposed solution to the afore mentioned problem
skill and knowledge levels among many students, low is to prepare students to become good adaptive learners.
levels of student engagement in school work and poor That is, students should be able to apply what they learn
international comparisons suggest that the current in school to the various and unpredictable situations that
educational paradigm is weak or inappropriate. they might encounter in the course of their work lives.
Educators must understand that changes in students’ Obviously, the traditional teacher as information giver and
outcomes must be supported by parallel changes in textbook guided classroom has failed to bring about the
curriculum and instruction. However, it is apparent that desired outcome of producing thinking students (Young
many of today’s teachers are caught in the midst of a and Collin, 2003). A much heralded alternative is to
change for which they may not have been professionally change the focus of the classroom from teacher domi-
prepared (Dogru and Kalender, 2007). Many teachers nated to student-centered using a constructivist
were educated in the classrooms where the role of the approach.
student was to memorize information, conduct well- The aim of the present study was to determine the
regulated experiments, perform mathematical calcula- effects of constructivist- based teaching strategy on
tions using a specific algorithm and were then tested on students’ understanding of Integrated Science concepts
their ability to repeat these tasks or remember specific by Nigerian Junior Secondary School students instructed
facts. The ideas which are central to an education which using constructivist instruction (with co-operative learning
defines competence as the ability of the student to apply approach). To accomplish the afore-mentioned purpose,
knowledge and skills to unfamiliar problems are not new. the following objective was established: Compare
These ideas were found in traditional apprenticeship students’ academic performance of the constructivist
programs, where daughters and sons learned life approach in Nigeria integrated science education with the
sustaining skills from parents and they were central to the students in conventional (lecture) instructional approach.
successes of all traditional peoples. Theorists in
cognition, curriculum and instruction (e.g. Di Vesta,
Vgotsky, Von Glaserfed, etc.) are now providing the THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
underlying rationale and language for discussing this
fundamental change in teaching and learning which is at Constructivism is a psychological theory of knowledge
the heart of the current school improvement agenda. which argues that humans construct knowledge and
Constructivist theory provides a framework through which meaning from their experiences. Constructivism is a set
the emergent ideas about teaching, learning and of beliefs about knowledge that begins with the
assessment can be unified (Young and Collin, 2003). The assumption that reality exists but cannot be known as a
difficulty and challenge confronting classroom profess- set of truth (Tobin et al., 1993). Constructivism is not
sionals is that the reform strategies in curriculum, accepting what you are told but your prior knowledge
instruction and assessment organized around the theory about what you are taught and your perceptions about it.
of “constructivism” are informed by different assumptions Active involvement of students is emphasized in
and beliefs about the nature of knowledge and about the constructivism, hence knowledge gained last long in their
human capacity to learn than are traditional classroom memory. Constructivism is not a new concept. It has its
practices (Kim, 2005). roots in philosophy and has been applied to sociology
Additionally, the conventional (lecture) teaching method and anthropology, as well as cognitive psychology and
of teacher as sole information-giver to passive students education. Perhaps the first constructivist philosopher,
appears outdated. In a study carried out by (Colburn, Giambatista Vico, commented in a treatise in 1710 that
2000) on undergraduates in a large lecture hall setting, it “one only knows something if one can explain it” (Yeager,
was found that only 20% of the students retained what 1991). Immanuel Kant further elaborated this idea by
the instructor discussed after the lecture. They were too asserting that human beings are not passive recipients of
busy taking notes to internalize the information. Also, information. Learners actively take knowledge, connect it
after a lecture has passed eight minutes, only 15% of the to previously assimilated knowledge and make it theirs by
students are paying attention. Furthermore, the present constructing their own interpretation (Cheek, 1992).
curricula in integrated science are overstuffed and under- Five basic themes pervade the diversity of theories
nourished (Olarewaju, 1987). The integrated science expressing constructivism. These themes are (1) active
curricula emphasize the learning of answers more than agency, (2) order, (3) self, (4) social-symbolic related-
the exploration of questions, memory at the expense of ness, and (5) lifespan development. With different
critical thought, bits and pieces of information instead of language and terminological preferences, constructivists
understanding in context, recitation over argument, read- have proposed, first, that human experiencing involves
ing in lieu of doing. The curricula also fail to encourage continuous active agency. This distinguishes construc-
students to work together, to share ideas and information tivism from forms of determinism that cast humans as
freely with each other, or to use modern instruments to passive pawns in the play of larger forces. Second comes
 Oludipe and Oludipe 349

the contention that much human activity is devoted to the teacher (Caprico, 1994). This teaching method can
ordering process – the organizational patterning of hinder the development of individual student’s active and
experience by means of tacit, emotional meaning-making creative abilities, and students who experience only this
processes. In a third common contention, constructivists model of education may no longer be considered
argue that the organization of personal activity is sufficient for the needs of a future educated citizenry
fundamental self-referent or recursive. This makes the (Zhao, 2003).
body a fulcrum of experiencing and it honors a deep In a constructivist setting, knowledge is not objective,
phenomenological sense of selfhood or personal identity. mathematics and science are viewed as systems with
But the self is not an isolated island of Cartesian models that describe how the world might be rather than
mentation. Persons exist and grow in living webs of how it is. These models derive their validity not from their
relationships. accuracy in describing the real world, but from the
The fourth common theme of constructivism is that accuracy of any predictions which might be based on
individuals cannot be understood apart from their organic them (Postlewaite, 1993). The role of the teacher is to
embeddedness in social and symbolic systems. Finally, organize information around conceptual clusters of
all of this active, meaningful and socially-embedded self problems, questions and discrepant situations in order to
organization reflects an ongoing developmental flow in engage the student’s interest. Teachers assist the
which dynamic dialectical tensions are essential. Order students in developing new insights and connecting them
and disorder co-exist in lifelong quests for a dynamic with their previous learning. Ideas are presented holis-
balance that is never quite achieved. The existential tone tically as broad concepts and then broken down into
here is unmistakable. Together, then, these five themes parts. The activities are student-centered and students
convey a constructive view of human experience as one are encouraged to ask their own questions, carry out their
that emphasizes meaningful action by a developing self own experiments, make their own analogies and come to
in complex and unfolding relationships. Focusing on a their own conclusions.
more educational description of constructivism, meaning Cognitive theorists believe the role of the teacher is to
is intimately connected with experience (Mahoney, 2004). provide learners with opportunities and incentives to
According to Mahoney, students come into a classroom learn, holding that among other thing:
with their own experiences and a cognitive structure 1. All learning, except for simple role memorization,
based on those experiences. These preconceived requires the learners to actively construct meaning
structures are valid, invalid or incomplete. The learner will 2. Students’ prior understandings and thoughts
reformulate his/her existing structures only if new about a topic or concept before instruction exert a tre-
information or experiences are connected to knowledge mendous influence on what they learn during instruction
already in memory. Inferences, elaborations and relation- 3. The teacher’s primary goal is to generate a
ships between old perceptions and new ideas must be change in the learner’s cognitive structure or way of
personally drawn by the student in order for the new idea viewing and organizing the world and
to become an integrated, useful part of his/her memory. 4. Learning in co-operation with others is an
Memorized facts or information that has not been important source of motivation, support, modeling, and
connected with the learner’s prior experiences will be coaching (Feden, 1995).
quickly forgotten. In short, the learner must actively The constructivist theory of learning supports cognitive
construct new information onto his/her existing mental pedagogy, for opposing that humans have an innate
framework for meaningful learning to occur. sense of the world and this domain allows them to move
Conventional (lecture) method of teaching is the from passive observers to active learners. Carlson (2003)
process of transmission of knowledge from teacher to supports a strong emphasis on identifying, building upon
student (Rhodes and Bellamy, 1999). It is essentially a and modifying the existing knowledge (prior knowledge)
one-way process. The current Nigerian classroom, students bring to the classroom, rather than assuming
whether primary, secondary or tertiary institutions level, they will automatically absorb and believe what they read
tends to resemble a one-person show with a captive but in the textbook and are told in the class. Research (e.g.
often comatose audience. Classes are usually driven by Caprico, 1994) indicates that better exam grades were
“teacher-talk” and depend heavily on textbooks for the obtained by students taught using constructivist metho-
structure of the course. There is the idea that there is a dology. Supporting this finding, Saigo (1999), White
fixed world of knowledge that the student must come to (1999) concluded that “the constructivist model has been
know. Information is divided into parts and built into a found to slightly influence students’ achievement in a
whole concept. Teachers serve as pipelines and seek to positive way”. The constructivist model is capable of
transfer their thoughts and meanings to the passive getting students more involved in learning. Kurt and
students. There is little room for student-initiated ques- Somchai (2004) in their own research study on
tions, independent thought or interaction between stu- constructivism also found that students used for their study
dents. The goal of the learner is to regurgitate the participated more in the classroom activities and gained
accepted explanation or methodology expostulated by in content knowledge when a constructivist approach was
350 Educ. Res. Rev.

used. Brad (2000), in his study, found that students in the Material used
constructivist instruction showed higher degree of
The researchers and their assistants carried out the teaching of the
academic achievement than students in the traditional students on each topic for three weeks respectively. The materials
(lecture) instruction in all conditions. In a research study used were as follows:
by Gatlin (1992) he found that there was no significant 1. A scheme of work consisting of selected integrated science
difference in students’ scores at the posttest between topics (writing chemical equation, work and energy) which were
students of the constructivist group and traditional taught for a period of three weeks. The students had not been
(lecture) group. He reported that students’ scores of exposed to these topics before the study.
2. An instructional package with the use of constructivist instruction.
those who received the constructivist approach showed a 3. An instructional package with the use of conventional (lecture)
slight decrease on the delayed posttests, while students instruction.
taught using the traditional (lecture) approach showed a 4. A set of forty-five multiple-choice integrated science test items on
greater decrease over time. Students who received the topics covered.
constructivist instructional approach have a higher The instrument in (d) above was used as pretest, post-test and
delayed post test in order to evaluate students’ performance. The
relation over time. It can be said that students taught by
test items were selected from the Junior Secondary School
traditional (lecture) means, who rely on memorization to Certificate Examination (J.S.S.C.E.) past questions. The JSSCE
pass tests, over time often do not remember much of the questions are standardized in nature because the Questions were
information learned. written by the experienced test and measurement experts in the
Makanong (2000) corroborated Gatlin’s finding in his ministry of education using an approved table of specification.
research study when he found that there was no Moderating Committee edited and selected good items. To confirm
the reliability of the test items, the achievement test was
significant difference in achievement between students in administered to a set of JSS III students different from the ones
constructivist group and traditional (lecture) group. Kurt selected for the study. Split-half method of estimating reliability was
and Somchai (2004) reported that there was no used to obtain a correlation co-efficient of 0.84.
significant difference in achievement between Thailand
students exposed to traditionalist (lecture) teaching
method and constructivist teaching strategy in vocational Data analysis
electronics programmes. However, they concluded that Paired t-test and independent group t-test were used to analyze the
the constructivist-instructed students had higher scores data collected. The paired t-test was used to analyze the pretest-
on the post test and the delayed post test, compared to post test, pretest-delayed post test and post test-delayed posttest
those of the traditionally (lecture) instructed students. scores of the two groups; the independent t-test was used to
This implies that students in the constructivist’s group compare performance of the two groups. Computation for the afore
mentioned methods of data analysis was done using SPSS 13.00
retain the concepts taught better than their colleagues in
package.
the traditionalist’s lecture group.

Procedure
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
Two intact classes in two of the four schools were designated
H1: There is a significant difference in students’ ‘constructivist learning environment (CLE)’, while the remaining two
knowledge of integrated science concepts between intact classes in the other two schools were designated
Nigerian students who were instructed using construc- ‘conventional lecture learning environment (CLLE)’. The pretest
was administered to both groups. The test instrument covered the
tivist instruction and conventional (lecture) instruction. afore mentioned topics which were taught during the period of
study. At the end of each of the three weeks, the same test was
administered to both CLE and CLLE classes as a post-test. At each
METHODOLOGY
stage of post test administration, the items of the test were
Design and procedure rearranged to give the impression that the pretest, post test and
delayed post-test were different from one another. Two weeks after
Quasi experimental research was used to achieve the purpose of the administration of the post test, delayed posttest was
this study. The study was conducted in four randomly selected administered to answer the question of whether there was student
public co-educational Junior Secondary Schools in ijebu-ode local memorization of facts and information or whether understanding of
government area of Ogun state, South-west Nigeria. 120 Junior the integrated science concepts taught by the teachers, using
Secondary School (III) students participated in the study. In different instructional methods, affected retention.
selecting the four schools, all the co-educational Junior Secondary
Schools (J.S.S.) were assigned numbers which were written on
pieces of paper. These papers were rolled and put into a container. RESULTS
One rolled paper was picked after mixing up the papers. The picked
one was replaced before picking another one. This method of Means and standard deviations for each method with respect
random sampling lead to selection of four schools (two for to pretest, post test and delayed post test are presented
experimental group and the remaining two for control group). Intact in Table 1. As indicated in Table 1, students exposed to
class was used in each of the schools because most of the school
principals did not want distortion in their normal school timetables.
constructivist instruction in topic 1 had higher mean
The intact classes in each of the schools were randomly selected scores for both post test (31.95, SD = 2.4) and delayed
from the arms of the J.S.S. III in the school. post test (36.93, SD = 2.22). Also, in topic 2, students in
 Oludipe and Oludipe 351

Table 1. Means and standard deviations of the sample’s methods of teaching. At the pretest level, the exact
pretest, post test and delayed post test scores. probability level is .000 (topic 1) which is less than p (p <
.05). This implies that there was significant difference in
Tests Method N Mean Std. Deviation the mean score of students in constructivist group (14.57)
Topic 1 and students in conventional lecture group (12.55). In
Pretest constructivism 60 12.8667 2.1350 topic 2, there was no significant difference in mean
Traditionalism 60 12.9500 2.2203 scores at pretest level between students in the construc-
tivist group (12.87) and students in conventional lecture
Posttest constructivism 60 37.0000 3.0865 group (12.95). The p-value at this level is .834, which is
Traditionalism 60 15.4000 1.9063 greater than p (p >.05). At the post test level, the p-value
is .000 (topics 1 and 2) which is less than p (p <.05). This
Delayed implies that there was significant difference in mean
scores at this level, for both topics 1 and 2, between
Posttest constructivism 60 38.9833 1.7378
students exposed to constructivist learning method
Traditionalism 60 11.2333 1.3823
(31.95 and 37) and students in conventional lecture
Std – Standard, N – Number. group (15.18 and 15.40). At the delayed post test level,
the p-value is also .000 (topics 1 and 2) which is less
than p (p <.05). Hence, there was significant difference in
Tests Method N Mean Std. Deviation mean scores, in both topics 1 and 2, between
constructivist group students (36.93 and 38.73) and
Topic 2
conventional lecture group students (11.23 and 12.80)
Pretest constructivism 60 14.5667 2.2801
(Table 2). Table 3 presents paired t-test for pretest-post
Traditionalism 60 12.5500 2.1267 test, pretest-delayed post test and posttest-delayed
posttest with respect to the two instructional methods. In
Posttest constructivism 60 31.9500 2.4036 topics 1 and 2, the p-value for all pairings is .000, except
Traditionalism 60 15.1833 2.1193 the post test-delayed post test pairing which is .001. This
implies that there was significant difference in the mean
Delayed scores, at all levels of pairing, between students in
Posttest constructivism 60 36.9333 2.2160 constructivist group and students in conventional lecture
Traditionalism 60 12.8000 2.7047 group.

DISCUSSION
Table 2. Summary table for the independent samples
test on pretest, pos ttest and delayed-post test scores
from groups 1 and 2. There was no statistical significant difference in the mean
scores and standard deviation of the students in
t-test for equality of means constructivist group (12.8667, 2.1350) and conventional
Tests t df Sig. (2-tailed) lecture group (12.9500, 2.2203) in respect of topic 1,
suggesting that the students had the same entry level
Topic 1
before the treatment. Contrarily, there was a significant
Pretest 5.010 118 .000
difference in the mean scores and standard deviation of
Post test 40.530 118 .000 the students in the constructivist group (14.5667, 2.2801)
Delayed posttest 53.463 118 .000 and conventional lecture group (12.5500, 2.1267)
Topic 2 suggesting that the students had different entry level
Pretest -210 118 .834 before the treatment. At the post test levels of topics 1
Posttest 46.122 118 .000 and 2, there was statistical significant difference in the
Delayed posttest 96.103 118 .000 mean scores and standard deviation of students in
Std -Standard, N - Number, df - degree of freedom. constructivist group (37.0000, 3.0865; 31.9500 and
2.4036) and conventional lecture group (15.4000, 1.9063;
15.1833 and 2.1193) suggesting that students in the
constructivist group gained significantly after treatment
constructivist group had the highest mean scores for both compared to their colleagues in the conventional group
posttest (37, SD = 3.09) and delayed posttest (38.78, SD whose mean scores was slightly different from their mean
= 1.74). Generally, the lowest mean scores of all tests, scores at the pretest levels. At the delayed post test
except the pretest in topic 2, belonged to the students levels of topics 1 and 2, there was statistical significant
who were exposed to conventional lecture instruction difference in the mean scores and standard deviation of
(Table 1). Table 2 shows the t-test values for the pretest, students in constructivist group ((38.9833, 1.7378;
post test and delayed post test with respect to the two 36.9333 and 2.2160) and conventional lecture group (11.2333,
352 Educ. Res. Rev.

Table 3. Paired samples test.

Paired Differences
Mean Std Std. Error t df Sig. (2-tailed)
Deviation Mean
Topic 1
Pair 1 pretest-posttest -10.0083 7.7106 .7039 - 119 .000
14.219
Pair 2 pretest delayed –posttest -11.3083 11.3802 1.0389 - 119 .000
10.885
Pair 3 posttest delayed –posttest -1.3000 4.1294 .3770 -3.449 119 .001
Topic 2
Pair 1 pretest-posttest -13.2917 11.1645 1.0192 - 119 .000
13.042
Pair 2 pretest delayed –posttest -12.1000 14.0356 1.2813 -9.444 119 .000
Pair 3 posttest delayed -posttest 1.1917 3.4282 .3130 3.808 119 .000

1.3823, 12.8000 and 2.7047) implying that students in the to constructivist and conventional lecture teaching
constructivist group retained the facts and information on techniques.
the integrated science concepts taught more than their
colleagues in the conventional lecture group.
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