Effect of Mastery Learning Approach (MLA) on the Performance of Boys and Girls in Public Primary Schools in Basic Science and Technology in Jos Metropolis Nigeria

The study examined the effect of Mastery Learning Approach (MLA) on the performance of boys and girls in public primary schools in basic science and technology in Jos Metropolis Nigeria. Four research questions and four hypotheses were asked and formulated respectively. Non-equivalent pretest and posttest control group of quasi-experimental design was used. A sample of 175 primary six pupils (92 boys and 83 girls), from two pilot science primary schools out of the population of 1,049 pupils from six pilot science primary schools in Jos Metropolis. Validated instrument for data collection was the Basic Science and Technology Performance Test (BSTPT), with a reliability value of 0.84 using Cronbach Alpha Coefficient. Research questions were answered with mean and percentages, while t-test was used in analyzing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that gender had no influence on the performance of pupils in basic science and technology and also showed that Mastery Learning Approach improved the performance of boys and girls in basic science and technology in the experimental group than those of the control group. The findings further revealed that MLA narrowed the gap between boys and girls with high, moderate and low performance level. This implies boys and girls performance improved equally in BSTPT. The results showed that teaching method has great influence on the performance of pupils than gender influence, since the performance of both boys and girls in the experimental and control groups did not show any remarkable differences. It was recommended that teachers should integrate MLA in their classroom day to day teaching and learning process.

Keywords:Mastery Learning Approach, Science and Technology