Differential Effects of Two Teaching Methods on Students‟ Achievement in Geography Curriculum in Plateau State, Nigeria

The study set out to determine the differential effects of using two teaching methods on senior secondary school students’ achievement in geography curriculum in Plateau State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study used Discussion and field trip methods to teach “Types and Characteristics of rocks” in geography. Three research questions were posed and answered while one hypothesis was formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. It was an experimental study.The findings show that students taught using discussion method had higher means (23.4, 49.16) in their ability to recognize and describe the characteristics of the three types of rocks than the students who were taught using field trip method who had lower means (13.9, 47.6) in their ability to recognize and describe the characteristics of the three types of rocks they were exposed to in the field. Also in determining the extent to which SS1 students achievement in geography differ when taught using discussion and field trip methods showed that the mean score of those taught using discussion is higher (X =72.6) than those taught using field trip (X = 61.2). Similarly, the hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance was rejected in favour of discussion method (t-calculated =3.37 while t-critical = 1.7 ).

Keywords: Two Teaching Methods, Students’ Achievement And Geography Curriculum