EFFECTS OF ADAPTIVE LEARNING STRATEGY ON SENIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN BIOLOGY IN AKKO, GOMBE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined how senior secondary two students in Akko, Gombe State, Nigeria, responded to an adaptive learning strategy in terms of their interest in ecology. The study was prompted by the students' low performance in the senior secondary school biology external examination, particularly in the area of Akko Local Government. To direct the investigation, two purpose of the study and two research questions were developed, and the hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The non-randomized pre-test, post-test control group design was specifically used in the study's quasi-experimental research design. 2407 secondary school students studying biology in the eleven public senior secondary schools in the Gombe State local government area made up the population. 120 senior secondary two biology students from two public secondary schools were chosen as the sample as intact classes. These two secondary schools were chosen through basic random sampling methods. The Students Ecology Interest Questionnaire (SEIQ) which have reliability scores of 0.861 instruments was used to collect the data. The study's conclusions demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups' posttest achievement mean scores for SSII students studying ecology. The mean score of SSII students' posttest interest in Ecology varied significantly between the experimental and control groups. The study's conclusions suggest that adaptive learning can be utilized to increase students' interest in and performance in ecology, and consequently, biology as a whole. The study concluded with some recommendations, one of which is that in order to raise secondary school students' academic performance, teachers must become proficient in the skills and methods of adaptive learning.