PILOT STUDY EFFECTS OF FIELD TRIP AND GROUP DISCUSSION METHOD ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE AND INTEREST IN PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN NORTH WEST, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the Pilot Study Effects of Field Trip and Group Discussion Method on students' Performance and Interest in Practical Agriculture among NCE II Agricultural Education students in Colleges of Education in North-West, Nigeria. The study was motivated by the persistent low students’ performance, declining interest in Practical Agriculture concepts associated with the continued use of conventional instructional methods. Four specific objectives, four research questions, and four corresponding null hypotheses guided the study. A quasi-experimental research design, specifically the pre-test-post-test and control group design, was adopted. The study involved a population of 70 NCE II Agricultural Education students drawn from six Colleges of Education in North-West Nigeria. A sample of 70 students from two purposively selected intact classes was used for the study. The two intact classes were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups through balloting, with the experimental group comprising 48 students taught using Field Trip, 25 students taught using Group Discussion 23 and the control group comprising 22 students taught using the conventional teaching method. Data were collected using the Practical Agriculture Performance Test (PAPT) and the Practical Agriculture Interest Questionnaire (PAIQ), both of which were validated by experts and established to be reliable. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used to answer the research questions, while independent samples and paired samples t tests were used to test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the pre-test mean performance scores of students in the experimental and control groups, indicating that both groups were academically comparable before the instructional intervention. However, after the treatment, students exposed to Experimental performed significantly higher, students’ performance developed greater interest in Practical Agriculture concepts than those taught using the conventional teaching method. It was therefore concluded that Experimental is an effective instructional for improving students' performance and interest in Practical Agriculture in Colleges of Education. The study recommended that Colleges of Education should institutionalize the use of Experimental in Agricultural Education programmes, while the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).