GENDER CHARACTERISTICS, COOPERATIVE LEARNING METHOD AND STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN BUSINESS STUDIES

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine gender characteristics, cooperative learning method and students’ achievement in business studies among Junior Secondary school students in Oyo town, Nigeria. The study adopted quasi experimental design of non-equivalent control group. Four research questions were raised and answered while four null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. A total of 83 junior secondary school II students participated in the study. An instrument titled Business Studies Achievement Test (BSAT) was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by two experts. The instrument produced a test-retest reliability coefficient value of 0.75. The arithmetic mean was used to answer research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistics was used in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings from the study indicated that students who were taught business studies using cooperative learning method (CLM) performed higher than the students taught using conventional method at post-test. The outcome of the study also revealed that male and female students in both control and experimental groups were not significantly different in their achievement in business studies at post-test. It was therefore recommended that Nigerian government and other stakeholders should encourage the use of CLM in teaching business studies and other vocational subjects with a view to improving students understanding and achievement in the subjects. It was also recommended that gender should not be seen as a stigma against any subject.