Effect of three teaching methods on performance of senior high school three students in genetics from a school in the Oti Region, Ghana

ABSTRACT The study examined the effect of three teaching methods on the performance of Senior High School three students in genetics from a selected school in the Oti Region of Ghana. Quasi-experimental pretest-posttest nonequivalent design was used. A sample of 82 students from three intact classes of 27, 26 and 29 were selected and randomly assigned A, B and C. One Biology teacher was purposively selected from the selected school, making a total sample of 83. The teacher did the teaching in all the three classes. A pre-test was conducted followed by the teaching using lecture method only, lecture and video method combined and video method only for the classes. After this a post-test was conducted to determine the effect of the methods. Means and standard deviations were calculated for pre- and post-test scores and one-way analysis of variance conducted. Performance of the three groups drastically improved after the teaching (mean of 33.96 for lecture-video method, 26.11 for video method only and 21.00 for lecture method only). There were statistically significant differences between the performances of the three groups (F= 44.14; df = 2/77; P ˂ 0.05). The use of lecture-video method in teaching Genetics recorded the highest significant improvement in learning outcomes of students compared to lecture and video methods only. It can be concluded that the combination of lecture and video methods of teaching Genetics drastically improved performance of students in Genetics. Hence, the School authorities should support Biology teachers to acquire adequate and appropriate ICT tools for innovative teaching of Genetics in the School. KEYWORDS: Genetics, Lecture-Video method, Biology, quasi-experiment, intact classes