EFFECT OF INSTRUCTIONAL SCAFFOLDING ON STUDENT’ ACHIEVEMENT IN COMPUTER STUDIES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE

Abstract

The study is on the effects of instructional scaffolding on students’ achievement in Computer Studies in secondary schools in Nsukka education zone. Three research objectives guided the study which are to ascertain the effect of instructional scaffolding strategy on students’ mean achievement in Computer Studies in secondary schools in Nsukka education zone of Enugu State, ascertain the effect of scaffolding instructional strategy on the mean achievement of male and female students in Computer Studies in secondary schools Nsukka education zone of Enugu State and determine the interaction effects of instructional strategies and gender on students’ mean achievement in Computer Studies in secondary schools in Nsukka education zone. Three research questions were used to elicit important information for the study. Literature was reviewed to not only serve as a guide to the researcher but also as an insight to works that have already been carried out by other researchers in related areas. The design of the study was quasi-experimental research design and the area of the study was Nsukka education zone of Enugu State. The population of the study comprised two thousand (339) junior secondary school two (JSS II) students drawn from 4 public secondary schools in Nsukka education zone. The instrument used for data collection was Computer Studies Achievement Test, data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for all research objectives/questions. The findings of the study revealed that the mean achievement scores of the students (JSS II) in the 4 secondary schools in Nsukka education zone being taught Computer Studies using instructional scaffolding was higher than the mean achievement scores of those being taught Computer Studies using conventional methods. The findings of the study also revealed that female secondary school students being taught Computer Studies using instructional scaffolding obtained higher mean scores than male students. From the findings, it was observed that gender treatment has significant interaction on students’ achievement in computer studies respectively. This implies that male and female students react differently in the treatment in terms of their academic achievement in computer Studies using instructional scaffolding. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended that Computer Studies teachers should re-assess their classroom instructional practice because there is a need for them to shift from instructional practice, which makes learners passive listeners to the practice that engages learners actively in the instructional processes.